Press Note – Funergal

111 exhibitors from 14 countries to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Funergal

Ourense, 7/11/2018.- In its tenth edition Funergal is positioned as a major international business center of the sector, calling on 111 exhibitors, among which the main companies and professional associations of the sector that will present the latest news and trends in products stand out and services. With the aim of promoting business and business competitiveness, Funergal is celebrated in Expourense on November 9 and 10 with the confirmation of the participation of companies, importers and professional visitors from 14 countries (Germany, Brazil, China, Colombia , Spain, United States, France, Guatemala, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland and Portugal).

The data of the 10th edition were presented this morning in an event in which the second vice president of the Provincial Council of Ourense participated as sponsoring entity of the event, Jorge Pumar; the vice president of the Galician Association of Funeral Services (AGESEF), José Luis Varela; the president of the Provincial Association of Companies of Funeral Pompas of Ourense (APEFO), Antonio García-Aliende; the managing director of Expourense and director of Funergal, Alejandro Rubín, and the director of International Relations of the fair, Emma González.

Already positioned as one of the great world fairs in the sector, Funergal is the only specialized international event that will be held in the Iberian Peninsula in 2018. Expourense will become a complete funeral exhibition, in which the tradition of the Quality manufacturers with new technologies and market trends imposed by the organization of funerals that respect the environment and in which a tribute to the life of the deceased has been made.

The main objective of Funergal is the promotion of business, competitiveness and updating in this area, while presenting a wide range of news, tailored to the needs of different funeral professional visitors both representatives of large companies and others of a character family, which will approach, fundamentally, from different points of the Iberian Peninsula.

International trade mission

With this goal, Funergal’s organization has launched a new reverse trade mission that will bring importers from Brazil, Colombia and Guatemala to the fair. These are countries that are in the process of modernization of the sector and that have Spanish companies as referents. The importers who will participate in this mission belong to important business groups that own funeral homes and cemeteries, with ample purchasing power. These importers will have the opportunity to contact the exhibitors and they will also be able to know the facilities of companies of the funeral sector located in the province of Ourense.

In addition, a meeting will be scheduled between the participants in the mission and the ATAUGAL (Association of Coffin Manufacturers of Galicia), to encourage the exchange of experiences and generate commercial synergies. This mission is organized in collaboration with ALPAR (Latin American Guild Association of Cemeteries and Funeral Services), an entity that includes the main companies in the sector in America, thanks to the support of the Provincial Council of Ourense.

Activity program

In addition to the promotion of the business, another of Funergal’s objectives is the update of the professionals of the sector through a complete program of Technical Conferences that will address topics such as the Qualified Professional Certification, on which several of the presentations will revolve, and which will serve to empower the funeral sector and increase its competitiveness. This certification implies that funeral professionals have to be the ones who have to perform the tasks of tanatopraxia, tanatoesthetics and tanatoplasty, having to be trained for it.

One of the novelties of this edition will be the pre-fair course that will be taught tomorrow. This is a specific training seminar on cadaveric treatment and embalming with biocidal products aimed at funeral homes and taught by tanatopractor Manuel Martín.

The conference will address other formative aspects such as professional communication and the techniques to succeed in shutting up, speaking and gesturing aimed at funeral professionals when it comes to relating to families that are going through a difficult time. On the other hand, we will talk about the new funerary paradigm around the social management of death and how the funeral market can take advantage of the opportunity to fulfill a key function to transform death into an intimate, full experience that serves as a tribute to the Life led by the deceased.

Awards

Among the activities planned for this edition, the delivery of the 10th anniversary special Funergal International Awards that include these categories: Award for the Best Stand; Best Promotional Action; Most innovative product / service and Internationalization. In addition, Funergal will host the delivery of the National Awards of the Funeral Guide that this year include the category of “best funeral director”. The support of companies and entities that have actively participated since the first edition of the fair and that therefore have more than 20 years of fidelity to this project will also be recognized.

The Prizes section also includes one of the novelties of this edition. Funergal will deliver the International Funeral Woman Merit Award, a distinction that aims to make visible and highlight the career of professional women in a sector in which the vast majority of workers are men (in Spain women represent 26, 41% of workers in the sector, according to PANASEF data). This recognition is given in collaboration with the Mexican company Gane Ventas Funerarias, creator of the award.

 

News

Funergal will also host the exclusive presentation of different funeral products and services, the vast majority of them oriented to the organization of ecological and environmentally friendly funerals and that include the whole process: from the selection of a coffin of materials such as cork or the natural raffia, until the election and water-soluble urns or of natural materials such as the bone of olive or esparto; until the recycling of metal parts that do not disappear during cremation.

In addition to sustainable funerals, the trend today also involves “celebrating life” as indicated by the slogan of one of the large business groups in the sector of Spain. It is about focusing the farewell of a loved one by paying homage to his life and generating positive memories.
Another novelty of this year will be the prominence of Xacobeo and the Camino de Santiago through the different actions that some of the exhibitors are going to implement.

Sector Data

The National Association of Funeral Services, PANASEF, has recently published its “X-ray of the funeral sector 2018”, a report that reveals that in 2017 423,643 people died in Spain, 3.17% higher than in 2016. Therefore, it continues to grow Mortality in our country, placing the year 2017 as the year with the highest percentage of deaths since there are official data in this regard.

With a number of services of 423,643 deaths, during 2017 the funeral sector has billed around 1,505 million euros, 75 million euros more than the previous year due to the increase in deaths in Spain. The turnover of the sector accounts for almost 0.13% of GDP, which rises to 0.34% by including the activity of the insurance companies that sell the death line. It is estimated that there are over 1,300 funeral service companies operating in Spain that employ 11,300 workers.

The incineration continues advancing ground year after year compared to the traditional burial. In 2017 it was already the option chosen in 38.43% of deaths and it is estimated that it will reach 60% in 2025.