Border Hardwood Managing Director Charlie Bevan-Jones, along with PB Hardwoods Director Paul Butterworth, enjoyed this year’s Carrefour International du Bois tremendously.
The Carrefour International du Bois Trade Show is an international event is held every 2 years in Nantes France. The event centers around the concept ‘wood is good,’ which takes place over 3 days, with over 10,000 visitors attending from over 80 countries.
The show exhibits a variety of timber products for the construction industry and with over 550 stalls, there is plenty to choose from! The exhibitors come from all manner of sectors, from sawmills, the timber trade, home improvement and design, to forestry owners.
“We Flew from Birmingham to Nantes on a Wednesday morning”, said Managing Director Charlie Bevan-Jones, “On the flight, we were surrounded by fellow UK importers so we had a good chance to catch up with them, it was really nice to see some old friends.”
Over the three day event, there were lots of chances for delegates to network “We spent a lot of time cementing relationships with existing suppliers, or forging new relationships while developing new supply chains in Europe to increase some of our target markets” explained Charlie and Paul.
The show is not just about buying, selling and networking, however, with a large focus on conferences to speak about industry news with some very knowledgeable French and international speakers.
Paul Butterworth commented “Nantes was its usual lively self-giving us good opportunity to socialize with competitors and suppliers alike; it was also a good opportunity to keep in touch with what is happening in the industry internationally.
