It might have been wet and foggy in Rimini, Italy but a warm welcome from the organisers awaited all those who came to Disinfestando 2013 on 6 and 7 March. Held in the brand new Palacongressi di Rimini, visitors and exhibitors alike were complimentary on the facilities offered.
Organised by the Italian pest control trade association Associazione Nazionale della Imprese di Disinfestestazione (ANID), the Disinfestando exhibition is run alternate years to the association’s conference – meaning this was the third time this exhibition was held. Running alongside the exhibition were seminar sessions in the afternoons – these were very well attended. For a review of these click here.
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On day-one the visitors flocked in – over 900 as reported by the organisers – followed by over a further 500 on the second day. As to be expected the majority were native Italian pest controllers, but the number of international visitors was noticeably thin – maybe they are saving their visit for the upcoming PestEx event in London? Summing up this view, Lorenza Brazzoduro, managing director of INDIA said: “We were very happy with the level of attendance, the organisation and the location. We hope, though, that Disinfestando will attain a more international flair and will attract a lot more foreign visitors than it currently does.” Speaking to the international visitors, whilst the venue was excellent, travelling to Rimini from abroad was not easy – not helped by the fog on the middle night which caused a number of overseas visitors to either be late, spend the night at Rome airport, or never reach the venue at all! In total there were just over 40 exhibitors. Naturally virtually all the well-known Italian manufacturers and distributors such as GEA. INDIA, OR.MA, Zapi, Vebi, Bleuline, OSD, Copyr, Ecotrade and Colkim plus the usual multinational organisations like Bayer and BASF. Now with a much higher presence following their acquisition of the DuPont products, Syngenta also had a stand. The UK was represented by only two companies – Killgerm/PestWest and P+L Systems. Whilst the welcome might have been warm the general feeling within the industry was one of caution. With a hung Parliament following the recent general election and fears of further financial austerity programmes, pest controllers are feeling the pinch. Whilst customers will not accept pests, they are looking at ways to make savings and so pest controllers are seeking ways to trim their costs. But as Francesco Colamartino, president of Sinergitech so beautifully put it: “Italians are used to dealing with complicated things!” Disinfestando 2015 will once again be held at the same venue. |
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