The European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers (CEMATEX); China Textile Machinery
Association (CTMA); Sub-Council of Textile Industry, China Council for the Promotion of
International Trade (CCPIT-Tex); and China Exhibition Centre Group Corp. (CIEC) have joined forces
and will present their first combined textile machinery show in 2008 — ITMA Asia + CITME 2008. The
groups have agreed to hold the combined exhibition every two years, starting with the July 27-31,
2008, edition at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, Shanghai.
CEMATEX — owner of the quadrennial European ITMA, which will take place in Munich in
September 2007 — has held ITMA Asia quadrennially in Singapore since 2001. The biennial CITME
exhibition began in 1988 and will be held in Beijing next in October 2006. The Beijing Textile
Machinery International Exhibition Co. Ltd., owned by CTMA and CCPIT-Tex, and Singapore-based
Meeting Planners International Pte Ltd., organizer of the first two ITMA Asia shows, will
co-organize the first combined exhibition.
“[China] has become one of the largest buyers of textile machinery, which is one of the key
reasons why CEMATEX has made the important decision to move ITMA Asia from Singapore to China,”
said Edward Roberts, president, CEMATEX.
“We strongly believe that our initiative will benefit the whole of the textile industry as
well as the healthy development of the textile machinery industry,” said Gao Yong, president, CTMA.
Commenting on the merger of the shows, Paolo Banfi, president of the Milan-based Association
of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers — a CEMATEX member — said: “[T]his deal foresees the
unification of two large trade fairs on the international scene …. In the current economic climate,
in which containing costs has become a priority for many manufacturers, a reduction in the number
of trade fair events, along with a major reshuffling of these events, will certainly go a long way
in reaching this objective.”
May/June 2006