AMC, the Spanish association of kitchen manufacturers, at Livingkitchen

The AMK is the association that represents the kitchen sector in Germany, including 139 manufacturers of kitchen furniture, integrated appliances, sinks and accessories, as well as leading commercial entities in the field of kitchens, distributors and service providers in the sector. The AMK also has a subsidiary in China, to support its member activities in China.

The meeting included conversations about regulations, planning and installation of kitchens, the advantages of opening the association to the sector as a whole, the possible synergies between the LivingKitchen and Espacio Cocina-SICI fairs and also exchanged data concerning to the German and Spanish markets .

The German kitchen sector
The representatives of the AMK agreed to point out the mega trend installed in Germany, and also in Europe:  cooking and eating as a linked pleasure. In Germany, this trend is reflected, for example, in the success of the open kitchen and in the combination of kitchen-dining-living room as the ideal model and also aspirational inside the home, because, according to a study, in Germany it is more valued to have a good kitchen than a good car.

Another interesting fact that emerged from the meeting is that more than 96% of kitchen furniture sold in Germany is domestically produced. The German market is, therefore, difficult to conquer for foreign manufacturers of kitchen furniture. It is estimated that the German kitchen industry will generate total sales of around 11.5 billion euros in 2016, of which almost 42% will correspond to domestic consumption. In Germany, the kitchen has an average aging of 12.7 years and occupies about 13.3 square meters of average. AMK calculates that there are installet in Germany around 10 million kitchens with more than 20 years old, which represents a huge growth potential for this market.

Between 2011 and 2015, the average price per kitchen went from 5,651 to 6,439 euros, a figure that will be higher in 2016, an exercise in which they expect to have reached the one and a half million kitchens sold.

Boosting the sector in Spain
AMC Managing Director also explained has been promoting the association in the last year to create synergies and foster the growth of the kitchen furniture sector, in order to make the Spain brand a benchmark.

Thus, for example, Sebastián Acedo pointed out the prestige of important Spanish cooks, recognized worldwide, who has contributed, and much, to linking the name of Spain to the gastronomic field. Its enormous reputation has also succeeded in making the kitchen manufacturing sector part of this great current of world admiration for the haute cuisine and gastronomy.

According to Acedo, also helps the fact that important Spanish brands of components and kitchen materials are well known around the world, specially in the ceramic tiles sector. For the manager of AMC, if German kitchen furnitures underline the standard of quality and the Italian one, its design, the Spanish kitchen furnitures has managed to combine the best of both, adding quality and design at a truly competitive price.

Sebastian Acedo also referred to the great revolution experienced by the Spanish kitchen sector and explained that, although the crisis caused the disappearance of some manufacturers, also forced the reinvention and bet on the innovation of other firms. In the opinion of the AMC representative, the effort, the creative capacity and the reinvestments have made that the kitchen sector has grown in strength and strength.

From AMK they agreed to point out this type of actions that they have been promoting for many years in Germany, as the key to generate this loyalty to their brands as well as the importance of reaching the final consumer to identify them.

Meeting with managers of the Cologne fair
During LivingKitchen, a meeting was also held in Cologne between representatives of AMC and Koelmesse. Thus, on behalf of AMC were attended by Juan Luis Salvador, President; Miquel de Argila, Vice-President; and Sebastián Acedo, Managing Director. From the fair of Cologne attended Eike Fuchs, Managing Director; Bernd Voss; Sales Manager; and Marit Jantzen, Manager of the Koelnmesse Delegation for Spain, Portugal and Andorra.

The meeting spoke about the need to establish collaboration channels for future editions of the LivingKitchen and Espacio Cocina-SICI fairs and studied promotional actions to develop to publicize the brands to end users taking advantage of fair events. In the case of LivingKitchen, the fair opens the weekend to the general public, which helps this. LivingKitchen is the natural fair of the most powerful German companies from kitchens sector in the world and a reference event not only in Germany, but also, outside.

In LivingKitchen 2017  (20-24 January, Cologne) were present companies and brands of AMC members such as Frecan, Cosentino, Dake (brands Blanco, Ise and Küppersbusch), Miele, Teka, Grupo Electrolux (AEG) and Discalsa (the latter, in the contiguous show Imm Cologne).

* For further information: www.amcocina.com / www.amk.de / www.livingkitchen-cologne.com