High expectations for Asia’s biggest textile machinery show-ITMA + CITME
Date: 2008-07-25
When ITMA Asia + CITME 08 opens its doors on Sunday (July 27) in Shanghai, visitors will be treated to their first view of what is now Asia’s biggest textile-machinery exhibition.
And with the dominance of China in the world’s textile markets, there can be no doubting the commercial significance of the event for the more than 1,250 exhibitors.
Exhibition space devoted to the show at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre adds up to 126,500 sq metres – that’s as much as 20 football pitches. The CITME tradition means that Chinese machinery producers form the largest national group, but companies from Europe and Japan are also strongly represented, as the event joins up for the first time with the successful ITMA Asia, previously held in Singapore.
CEMATEX president Edward Roberts explained that the original decision to join forces with CITME was based on the clear trends in the market, showing the People’s Republic of China as the major destination for textile-machinery sales. The latest International Textile Manufacturers federation (ITMF) statistics confirmed these trends.
Mr Roberts also commented that visitor registrations were in line with forecasts, while exhibitor space was sold out – with even a waiting list – making this the largest machinery show ever held in China.
For the future, he added: “The contract between CEMATEX and CITME foresees an evaluation of the first show as the basis for a decision on second and third shows. We will be conducting extensive surveys of exhibitors and visitors to test the effectiveness of the show, and based on these we will together decide on future shows.”
