ITMA ASIA 2005

22 Sep '05

6 min read

ITMA ASIA 2005, the region's leading textile machinery exhibition, will assume added significance this year following the abolition of global textile quotas.

Over 800 exhibitors from 33 economies have confirmed their participation. The event, to be held from 17 to 21 October, is expected to attract some 30,000 international visitors, including key government and textile association officials, buyers, dealers and agents from more than 30 countries; the majority from Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific.

This will be one of the biggest groups of international visitors to Singapore.

The need to upgrade drives visitors CEMATEX, the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers, is forecasting the number of visitors based on the region's impressive growth in the textile industry over the last few years.

Fabric output in Asia, for example, increased by over 50 per cent in 2004 [International Textile Manufacturers Federation - State of Trade Report June 2005] and the American Textile Manufacturing Institute is estimating that more than US$40 billion in textile orders will shift to lower-cost countries in the post-quota world.

The numbers are just as impressive when looking at recent purchases of textile machinery. In 2004, Asia accounted for 92 per cent of all spinning machine shipments (up 4 per cent on 2003), 88 per cent of all shuttleless weaving machine shipments (up 5 per cent on 2003) and 69 per cent of all knitting machine shipments (up 4 per cent on 2003 [International Textile Manufacturers Federation - International Textile Machinery Shipment]) and the trend is set to continue as Asian textile makers modernise and upgrade their operations in order to remain competitive and take advantage of the huge business opportunities opening up to them.

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