22 October 2001, Singapore - ITMA Asia 2001, the first Asian International Exhibition of Textile Machinery, ended successfully last Friday (19 October 2001) at the Singapore Expo after a 5-day exhibition. Amidst the current difficult global economic climate and tense political scene, a total of 14,023 visitors had been registered and the accumulated daily attendance reached 29,195. The majority of the visitors were from Asian countries, with Indonesia (2,652), Thailand (1,376), India (1,565), Korea (1,124) and Taiwan (785) topping the visitors' list. "The exhibition is a success," said Mr Bernard Terrat, President of CEMATEX, the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers, which is the owner of ITMA. "The impressive turnout of visitors reaffirmed to us that ITMA is the benchmark event, and its new Asian edition is a logical extension." With visitors coming from 66 countries and regions, ITMA Asia 2001 has well proven its superiority in the textile industry as compared to other exhibitions such as OTEMAS, where participation and results were considerably lower, he said. " I am sure that the next ITMA Asia will have more exhibitors and visitors." Mr Nat Wong, Chief Executive Officer of Meeting Planners International, the local organiser of ITMA Asia 2001, also indicated that the results are satisfactory and encouraging.
"Despite the recent challenges, even to the extent of the disruption of some airline services, the strong turnout of visitors to the show has demonstrated that buyers in the region are still upbeat on the potential of the textile market," he said. Mr Wong also pointed out that quite a good number of textile machinery on display have been sold on the spot, although the amount of business transactions concluded by individual exhibitor during the show will not be available for commercial reasons. The exhibition, which started on Monday 15 October 2001, was organised by CEMATEX and Meeting Planners International. A total of 802 exhibiting companies from 32 economies participated in the event, which occupied 60,000 sqm of exhibition space. The next ITMA exhibition will be held in Birmingham in 2003, while the next ITMA Asia is scheduled to be in 2005. |