Slide show: Eyes on Eisenwarenmesse

The three-day, every-other-year International Hardware Fair Cologne 2016 -- known in German as the Internationale Eisenwarenmesse -- attracted 44,000 trade visitors from 124 countries, according to the official tally from Koelnmesse, organizers of the event.

Taking part in the event were 2,673 companies from 55 countries. (The 2014 event saw 2,783 companies from 53 countries.) Of the exhibitors, 86% were from outside of Germany. Of the 444,000 attendees, up from 43,879 two years ago, 63% came from abroad.

But numbers were only part of the story. “Besides innovative products, the focus also always lies on the dialog between the market partners,” said J. Wolfgang Kirchhoff, chairman of the Advisory Board.