With over 2,500 exhibitors from more than 50 countries, the International Hardware Fair in Cologne is the world’s biggest and most international fair in the hardware and tool industry. The fair therefore offers the fischer Group of Companies a very important platform through which to present its products and services and exchange information with its business partners.

But the health of its members of staff and business partners is far more important to the company than economic interests. The uncertainty among fischer’s members of staff who were due to work at the fair or who planned to attend it understandably grew in recent days with reports on the coronavirus. Due to the fact that despite all precautionary measures nobody can precisely assess the health risk to the fair’s visitors nor guarantee that there is no risk of catching the virus, fischer will be cancelling its appearance at the Hardware Fair.

The decision to cancel the appearance was made following close consultation with the company owner Klaus Fischer. The health and safety of all employees is of the utmost importance to him and the entire Board of Directors. By cancelling its participation in the fair, fischer is preventing its members of staff from potentially catching the coronavirus.

In addition to cancelling the fair, fischer’s members of staff in China are not currently permitted to travel to fischer’s other sites abroad, and vice versa, employees from other countries are not permitted to travel to the company’s Chinese sites.

fischer has several locations in China, with fischer fixing systems and fischer automotive sites in Taicang near Shanghai and fischer Consulting and a purchasing company directly in Shanghai. China is a significant market for the Group of Companies and its 47 subsidiaries in 35 countries, and the company has operated in China for over 20 years.

Click here to download the press release.