By Haydn Davis in Shanghai
SHANGHAI – CTMA president Gao Yong issued a stark warning to China’s textile machinery industry at the opening of ITMA Asia + CITME with a prediction that the negative growth experienced in the first five months of 2008 is likely to continue until at least 2009.
Speaking at the exhibition’s opening press conference, the CTMA (China Textile Machinery Association) president said that in January-May this year, production levels from China’s textile machinery sector were down 0.62% with sales down 19.7% and average profits plunging a huge 48%.
“We predict that the industry has not yet reached its lowest point,” said Mr. Yong. “Things are expected to worsen for the rest of 2008 although we are confident that the industry will pick up again in 2009.”
Mr. Edward Roberts, president of CEMATEX agreed that the year to date had been a poor one for the textile industry, both in China and around the world, but that the success of a combined show such as this first collaboration between ITMA and CITME were geared towards helping the industry both in China and abroad. “The success of the first combined show means we are moving in the right direction to meet the demands of textile machinery manufacturers and the textile industry as a whole,” he said. “The market is difficult but we are optimistic that if we make the best of 2008, we can all look forward to 2009.”
Here in Shanghai, there are over 1,360 exhibitors from more than 30 different countries. Of the 74,000 square metres of net exhibition space, knitting and hosiery machine manufacturers have taken around 11,000 square metres of space with more then 100,000 visitors expected to visit the stands over the next five days.
In terms of overseas exhibitors, companies from Germany have taken the largest amount of floorspace at ITMA Asia + CITME with around 10,000 square metres followed by Italy with 7,200 square metres.
