(Photo: © GHM)
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The International Crafts Fair (IHM) opens in Munich on July 6. The signs point to a crisis. Not only for the skilled trades, but also for the trade fair location. Trade fair director Dieter Dohr is "stunned" by the coronavirus policy.
The circumstances under which the International Crafts Fair 2022 The trade fair is set to launch in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic and the current global upheavals pose major challenges for businesses. "Transformation processes, in which the skilled trades play a significant role, must be addressed swiftly in dialogue between business and politics. The role of Germany as a trade fair location must not be overlooked," emphasize the organizers of the HMI in Munich.
Tip: On 6 July, the International Crafts Fair Miss & Mister Crafts 2022 . Read more
Holger Swan neck, Secretary General of the Central Association of German Skilled Crafts (ZDH), said in the run-up to the IHM: "We are no longer facing a single, massive crisis, but rather multiple, consecutive, and interlocking crises that reinforce each other in their effects and repercussions. These crises have created a very concrete pressure for action and reaction on politicians, but also on our companies in their day-to-day business, which has never been seen on this scale in the recent past."
Opening hours of the IHM The Internationale Handwerksmesse and the parallel Garten München exhibition will take place at the Munich Exhibition Center on five days, Wednesday to Sunday, July 6 to 10, 2022, from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily. Discounted tickets are available online in advance at https://www.ihm.de/tickets.
Craft policy
Craft policy
Craft policy
Exploding Prices in energy and materials supply as well as the Supply chain disruptions made new contracts or participation in public tenders a risk that was difficult to calculate for many craft businesses. Uncertainties regarding price developments made it difficult to prepare realistic offers, and even price increases imposed on customers did not fully compensate for the current additional burdens. Energy-intensive craft businesses, as well as small and micro-enterprises, in particular, depended on political decisions for their continued existence, according to the ZDH Secretary General.
Relief measures such as the Reduction of electricity and energy taxes to the minimum rates permitted in Europe or the suspension of the new CO2 pricing are urgently needed.
Franz Xaver Peteranderl, President of the Bavarian Crafts Day (BHT), emphasizes: "The International Crafts Fair is the place where the course for the future is set. In a time when one crisis follows another, the skilled trades with their well-trained employees are indispensable problem solver. Politicians must support this with concepts and concrete decisions, for example, on securing skilled workers."
Associations and organizers hope that the dialogue between political decision-makers and business will be shaped in a groundbreaking way this year within the framework of the International Crafts Fair 2022 in Munich.
The opening on July 6, 2022, will focus on the upcoming Energy transition, the effects of the Ukraine crisis and the shortage of skilled workersThe following participants have been announced:
The traditional top-level meeting of German business on Friday, 8 July 2022 with Chancellor Olaf Scholz is dedicated to the current socio-political and economic discourse. BHT President Peteranderl relies on the dialogue with politicians taking place within the framework of the IHM: "Craftsmen and women are the planners and architects of the energy and transport transition. They assemble photovoltaic systems, install charging stations for e-mobility, replace heating systems, build energy-efficient houses, and repair electric vehicles. For these demanding tasks, companies need thousands of additional qualified specialists."
However, there are no suitable job seekers registered for around half of these urgently needed skilled workers. "Therefore, we will make it clear in our discussions with politicians that the challenges facing our country can only be met with skilled tradespeople. Together, we must do everything we can to ensure that more young people learn a skilled trade. Germany needs a decade of vocational training and continuing education."
Politics and society must take into account the central role of skilled trades in shaping the future, emphasises ZDH General Secretary Schwannecke: "All of this has a value. This must finally be expressed in the fact that vocational and academic education treated equally andand receive equal financial support. This is the only way we can counteract the skills shortage. If we fail to close the skills gap, especially in the skilled trades, the climate and energy transition in Germany will be at risk."
This year's International Crafts Fair, which has to take place in the summer for the first time, is overshadowed by the corona situation. Dieter Dohr, Chairman of the Management Board of the organizer of the IHM, the GHM Gesellschaft für Handwerksmessen mbH, sharply criticizes the policies of the states: "After two years, the IHM is finally taking place again and is the platform that advances future-critical topics in dialogue and makes it possible in this form. It baffles me that the Unpredictability of politics continues and threatens to cause even greater damage to the event and cultural industries. We are currently experiencing the same political behavior as last year: experts are warning of new waves of mutations in the fall, and politicians are formally refusing to engage in scenario planning. Instead, all sectors remain uncertain about the conditions they will have to deal with in the fall, thus losing vital preparation time.
A lot is at stake for Germany as a trade fair location. Dohr: "Germany's leading trade fairs have lost international trust over the past year. The political crisis management here in Germany was met with astonishment, while competing trade fairs abroad have taken up their positions. The fact is: Our customers' decisions about trade fair participation in the fall and winter are being made now. What we urgently need, before the summer break, are robust political decisions! Otherwise, I see no future."
The industry is still struggling with the indirect pandemic damage of the past two years: workers from the entire trade fair industry have migrated to other sectors – for example, from trade fair catering, stand construction, or security services.
Dieter Dohr: "Such damage cannot be repaired overnight, making it all the more important to carry the good spring and summer in the trade fair industry into the fall and winter. We are fighting with all our partners to maintain the renowned quality and reliability in trade fair organization. This situation, which is further exacerbated by material shortages and delivery bottlenecks, is putting a strain on our prices. Reliability, predictability, and, above all, a sense of proportion in the measures we take are our demands and those of our customers. What is needed now is political foresight!"
Source: GHM
About the International Crafts Fair The International craft fair is considered the most important trade fair for skilled crafts in Germany. It has existed since 1949 and takes place every spring at the Munich Exhibition Center. Around 1.000 exhibitors from around 60 trades offer private households, companies, and the public sector an overview of the performance, quality, and innovative strength of the skilled crafts. The trade fair program includes several performance and special shows where craftspeople from numerous countries present current topics and new products.
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