Furniture market numbers grow slightly
HIGH POINT -- High Point Market issued 85,708 badges for Spring Market 2007, which wrapped up a few weeks ago, the market said today.
That’s modest growth from the 84,976 badges the furniture market issued in Fall Market in 2006.
Brian D. Casey, president and chief executive officer of the High Point Market Authority, said that 671 buying organizations from around the globe registered to attend the market.
“While we continue to enjoy significant response from Canada, Mexico and South America, it’s interesting to note that more than half of the badges issued to international retailers went to companies in Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East and Asia,” Casey said in a news release. “This was clearly a direct result of our ongoing outreach efforts in these regions and we expect the number of international buyers to increase exponentially as we move forward, particularly in light of our new International Buyer Program (IBP) designation by the U.S. Department of Commerce.”
Casey said the bulk of the badges issued this spring went to buyers (47,109), while exhibitors and sales representatives requested 31,617 badges. Suppliers got 5,433 passes and workers got 790 passes. An additional 759 day passes were issued to students, guests and market volunteers.