The 13th Beijing International Construction Machinery Exhibition & Seminar (BICES) has opened at the New Beijing International Exhibition Center in China. There are close to 1,000 exhibitors taking part and the show covers 150,000 m2.

Although a large event, the slowing Chinese economy has seen BICES reduce in size from when it was last held in 2013.

Qiao Jian, general manager of BICES said, “We have made a great effort to prepare for the show, but it is difficult in the economic environment. The size of the show and the visitor numbers on the first day are down on the last event. However, the quality of the visitors has improved. The proportion of professional contractors has increased and we have representatives of the key projects in Beijing present.”

He continued, “a key change has been a move to a new exhibition centre, which is the largest venue of its kind in Northern China. There is also an advantage to holding the event in Beijing as all the major contractors have their headquarters here.”

Mr Jian confirmed that the next BICES was likely to be held at the same venue in 2017.