Curas manifested, yet again, its presence in Europe at this years’ MEDICA fair in Düsseldorf, Germany. Together with 138k participants (up from 137k in 2008), the company met several industry peers, existing Curas partners as well as supplier candidates.
Janice Lim, Regional Manager of Curas in Asia Pacific says: “We are offering selected Asian manufacturing companies a unique platform in Europe. When I go through the criteria of co-operation with Curas, the most important question is always: “How genuine is your desire to increase sales in Europe?”. This question is a stress-test we need to put down as a marker, because the European market is mature and entering it requires long-term planning and a lot of will. This year’s MEDICA provided a good venue for discussing our market plans with selected high-quality producers, but only those who are serious about Europe.”
Until 2010, where Curas will be back in Düsseldorf (as always with a bigger team); we can look back on four (4) days of successful discussions and negotiations with our current and future business partners.
Link: www.medica.de
Despite the economical downturn and the reduction in overall volume of trading between Asia and Europe, and against most conventional wisdom; the shipping rates of containerized cargo from Asia has kept its very high cost levels following the Christmas 2009 import peak.
As the attached file will show; the shipping lines are utilizing their (greatly reduced) capacity to the maximum and therefore the rates are at the moment about USD 1,000.00 per 40 large container higher than anticipated by most industry experts. On top of the continued inflated rates; the cost of transportation continues to suffer from a weak dollar and high oil price (a related topic), which in combination inflates ocean rates yet further.
Curas is monitoring the situation closely and together with our transportation partners we secure the best possible solutions for long-distance transportation. The strategy to improve packaging systems further is paramount to cost-control, and Curas will continue to prioritize product development related tasks in relation to the cost of transportation, storage and waste handling; to the benefit of our customers and end-users around the world.