Plant Equipment and Hire March 2018 | Page 15

EVENTS Elrene Smuts, group communications manager for Chryso Southern Africa Group. Mark Hughes, director of sales and marketing at Bell Equipment Sales South Africa. number of exhibitors will also be using bauma construction market has been very down,” that over the next few months and years, CONEXPO AFRICA 2018 as a springboard to says Burger. “Our aim is to show visitors to Zimbabwe is the country to keep an eye on. launch new products, services, and offerings the show that we are here to stay.” Chryso Southern Africa Group is another to a market they believe is finally beginning to recover from a tumultuous few years. When it comes to mining, Burger believes exhibitor that has been involved in the show that coal and chrome are the sectors to watch since it first started in 2013, and based on and that they will remain steady throughout previous experience, the group is expecting Since the beginning 2018. “The equipment industry is heavily an excellent visitor turnout from within the BurGerS Equipment & Spares, distributor influenced by the political situation, with the mining and construction industries. According for Chinese construction equipment price of imported machines dependent on the to group communications manager Elrene manufacturer LiuGong in South Africa exchange rate, which thus plays a significant Smuts, the company expects to see growth and Namibia, has attended both previous role in getting the machines to the end user in export volumes, with generally flat volume editions of the show, according to MD at the most competitive price possible. growth in the construction sector and an Tiaan Burger, and expects this year’s event While things are currently stable, this could increase in mining volume growth. to surpass the previous ones. “Our hope potentially change at any time.” is that the construction market will pick up this year, because for the last few years, the While the company’s primary focus is on South Africa and Namibia, Burger believes “While there are very low activity levels in the building sector, the demand for construction chemicals is significantly MARCH 2018 13