2007.11.22

The internationalisation and globalisation of the textile sector was plain to see at the ITMA 2007 fair in Munich. This 15th world textile machinery exhibition, which took place in September at the city’s new fairgrounds, attracted 118,000 trade operators from a total of 149 different countries. Forty-five percent of these were first-time visitors to the event. This ITMA fair will therefore go down as the one with the highest international presence in the history of the event so far. The top-ten countries, in terms of the number of nationals visiting ITMA were, in this order: Germany (of course), Italy, India, Turkey, Brazil, France, Switzerland, Spain, Iran and Belgium. There was a particularly strong interest on the part of the countries of Central and South America, like Brazil whose visitors numbered over 4,500, Argentina which provided 2,000 visitors, and Mexico (over 1,500).
“The ITMA fair is the textile machinery sector’s ‘guide’. This year we noted that the visitors were of an exceptionally high calibre, coming from all over the world, and we also saw some leading operators whom, otherwise, we rarely have an opportunity to meet. Everything went perfectly” declared Heinrich Trützschler, director of Trützschler GmbH & Co. KG Textilmaschinenfabrik and president of the ITMA organising committee. Edward Roberts, president of Cematex e chief executive officer of Vanwyk Systems B.V. remarked “For us at Cematex, this ITMA 2007 fair here in Munich has gone swimmingly. The event has had a very international feel it is worth underlining that not only the number, but also the level of the visitors, has been exceptionally high.”