Exhibitions

CITME

CITME 2004 Flash Report

Source: CCPIT TEX-Textile World Asia | Date: 2006-02-10
CITME Flash Report


By Carmen Pang,
Executive Editor
Photographs By James Borneman,
Editor, Textile World




Record-Breaking Success


CITME 2004

With only months to go before global textile quotas are eliminated in January 2005, the 9th China International Textile Machinery Exhibition (CITME), which concluded its fiveday run on October 16 in Beijing, China, attracted scores of both Chinese and international exhibitors and visitors

According to show organizers, which included the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Sub-Council of Textile Industry (CCPIT TEX), China International Exhibition Center Group Corp., and the China Textile Machinery & Accessories Association, this year's show was by far the largest in its history ?there were more than 1,000 companies from more than 20 countries and regions exhibiting on more than 60,000 square meters of floor space. In addition to occupying the entire China International Exhibition Centre, an extra 8,000 square meters of temporary show space was built to accommodate all the companies. In terms of visitors, organizers said there were almost 50,000 registered attendees from 50-plus countries.

What exactly the post-quota landscape looks like remains to be seen, but there was a consensus among CITME goers that China will play an important role. To international textile machinery manufacturers, CITME provided the opportunity for them to introduce their wares to Chinese textile companies that are looking to upgrade their equipment to prepare for 2005 and beyond. To domestic Chinese machine suppliers, the show was a chance for them to interact with many of their existing customers and to showcase their products, which face increasing competition from international manufacturers.

Chinese government officials, including Du Yuzhou (far right), president, China National Textile Industry Council, and Hao Jianxiu (fourth from right), former Minister of Textile Industry, toured the show floor on the opening day of CITME.

Country Pavilions Galore
Unlike other textile machinery shows, the halls of CITME 2004 were organized by country instead of by the type of machinery offered.

According to show organizers, the largest foreign country pavilion was that of Germany ?taking up 2,400 square meters (representing an increase of 15 percent from the 2002 show), it was home to more than 60 German companies, including Br點(diǎn)kner Trockentechnik GmbH & Co. KG, Lindauer Dornier GmbH, Fleissner GmbH, among others. Such German presence was understandable because, according to the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) Textile Machinery Association, China has been the largest export market for German textile machinery three years in a row. Shipments to China represent about 26 percent of the country抯 annual machinery exports.

Other countries that showed a strong presence were Italy, with 73 exhibiting companies; Japan, with 23 exhibiting companies; Korea, with 31 exhibiting companies; and the United Kingdom, with 13 exhibiting companies.

By far, the largest area of the show was taken up by the hundreds of Chinese companies spread over several halls. The companies exhibiting ranged from small-scale local firms selling to one region of China to major conglomerates that export internationally.

In fact, China抯 largest textile machine enterprise, China Textile Machinery (Group) Co. Ltd. (CTMC), took up one entire hall to house its 27 subsidiary companies. A total of 47 machines were on display in the hall, which attracted constant crowds of visitors, easily making this hall one of the most congested areas of the show.

Cavaliere Miro Radici, ITEMA Group; Luciano Corain, SMIT S.p.A.; Federico Pellegata, ACIMIT

Paolo Banfi, Managing Director, COMEZ

Jenson Mai (left) will assume the role of general manager at Jakob M黮ler Hong Kong China Ltd. upon the retirement of Raffaele Micheletti.

China Textile Machinery (Group) Co. Ltd.'s booth occupied an entire hall.

Jan R鰐tgering, Saurer GmbH & Co. KG

Luca Bardone (left) CIMI S.p.A., and Ma Jie, SIN'HER (Hong Kong) Trading Co. Ltd.

Tetsuya Uedo, Toyota Industries Corp.

Left to right: Fabio Mazzucchetti, Promatech S.p.A.; Rino Morani, Savio Machine Tessili S.p.A.; Cavaliere Miro Radici, ITEMA Group; Nicola Radici, Europe Yarn GmbH

Co-Locating Events Add Value To Show
In conjunction with CITME, two co-locating events provided additional opportunities for show attendees to learn and network.

A technical seminar, titled 揢sing Technology To Improve The Industry, Cooperate To Create A Better Future,?invited 25 Chinese and foreign exhibitors to use the show as a platform for exchanging ideas.

According to organizers, about 2,500 people, including a number from India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea and Belgium, attended the 27 seminars, which included presentations by Eduard K黶ters Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG, Picanol NV, Uster Technologies AG, Pacific Mechatronic (Group) Co. Ltd., and CTMC.

Another co-locating event was the 5th China International Textile Chemicals & Environmental Technologies Exhibition (CITCE 2004). It hosted more than 40 textile chemicals suppliers from China, Germany, Japan, India, Korea, and others. The exhibiting companies were grouped together in the same area of the exhibition center so that show attendees could conveniently visit them at the same time.


Kurt Episser, project and sales manager, Santex AG

Pauline Wei (left), C.N.T. Ltd., with
Rino Morani, Savio Macchine Tessili S.p.A.

Andreas Weber, head of sales/marketing,
Heberlein Fiber Technology Inc.

Jo雔 Jegou (left) and Reinhard Furrer, St鋟bli AG

Mario Di Francesco, Brazzoli S.p.A.

Heiner Eberli (left) and Bo Michael Kristoffersen, Rieter Textile Systems



Opening Banquet Provided Networking Opportunity
To Exhibitors And Visitors
CITME 2004 was officially opened during a banquet hosted by the organizers of the show.The festivities took place at the Great Hall Of The People, one of Beijing抯 most recognizable landmarks, on the evening of the opening day of the show.True to its name, the Great Hall laid out banquet tables for the 1,000-plus guests gathered for the occasion.

Many key officials of the Chinese textile industry were present, including Xu Kunyuan, vice president of the China National Textile Industry Council, who commented in his speech that China抯 textile industry, through restructuring in the past several years, has developed rapidly and is now faced with a huge opportunity to play a key role in the world market. He encouraged the industry to keep up the pace of technical revolution, for which CITME has an opportune role to play. He ended his remarks with wishes of success to the show.

Following the various speeches, guests were treated to a feast of Chinese delicacies, as well as a performance program that included martial arts demonstrations, traditional Chinese music performances, and a dance performed by dancers dressed in traditional Chinese tribal costumes.

Photographs By Du Jun

Lutz Tr黷zschler, Heinrich Tr黷zschler and Michael Sch黵enkr鋗er,
Tr黷zschler GmbH & Co. KG Textilmaschinenfabrik


Franz Miesbauer, Dornier Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.,
with Peter Dornier, Lindauer Dornier GmbH

Takeshi Kokura, Tsudakoma Corp.

Peter Stahlecker (left) and Erich Casanova, Spindelfabrik Suessen