By Flora Zhao

The five-day ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018 witnessed a success again in Shanghai this year. The event is the primary Asian trade show dedicated to textile machinery， and once more Italian technology played a major role， featuring innovative and sustainable solutions.

Around 130 Italian companies exhibited at the ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018， from October 15 to 19 in Shanghai. Of these， 63 manufacturers presented their technology offerings within National Sector Groups organized by ACIMIT， the Italian Association of Textile Machinery Manufacturers， and the ICE-Agency. The total exhibition surface area occupied by Italian businesses amounted to roughly 6，300 square meters， placing Italy among the main exhibiting nations at the event.

Asia， and China in particular， represent the primary foreign markets for Italian machinery manufacturers in the sector. Over the first half of 2018， fully 46% of Italian exports of textile machinery was destined for Asia， compared to 37% for European Countries， and 12% to the Americas. The Chinese market is the main destination for Italian exports， with a 16% share of the total. Over the first six months of the current year， the value of exports amounted to 156 million euros （-8% compared to the first half of 2017）. Other major export destinations for Italian machinery manufacturers in Asia include India， Bangladesh and Pakistan.

“Prospects for the Chinese market remain positive， in spite of the fact that the demand for foreign machinery from local textile manufacturers for this first half of the year has been rather slow，” confirmed ACIMIT President Alessandro Zucchi. “The trust our machinery manufacturers have placed in China is abundantly apparent in the large number of Italian exhibitors present in Shanghai. Italy is among the most highly ranked foreign Countries in terms of the number of exhibiting companies.”

The demand for machinery in China is focused primarily on technologies capable of combining savings in production costs with environmental sustainability. Chinas textile industry is just as sensitive to innovative solutions that can respond to the markets changing demands； i.e. fast time-to-market and justin-time production. "I believe that in order to enhance competitiveness at an international level textile manufacturers in China， just as in other Countries， must target the digitalization of production processes， aiming for sustainability in the technological solutions they adopt，” concluded Zucchi.

Italy， with its high-tech and eco-friendly manufacturers， is one of the most important player in the textile machinery industry. Italian high-quality machines will foster China textile industrys quality and will provide environmental conservation – explained Massimiliano Tremiterra， Italian Trade Commissioner in Shanghai. China is implementing policies for the reduction of carbon emissions with new measures for low carbon economy， low energy consumption， low-pollution， one of the future choices in the economic development. For that reason， we think Italian textile machines ecofriendly technology， should be appropriate with Chinese policies. In Eastern China， there are the top three Provinces for textile and garment industry： Zhejiang， Jiangsu， and Fujian， that along with the Provinces Guangdong and Shandong reach around 80% of the industrys production capability. Italy remains one of the leading suppliers of textile machinery in China： for cleaning， dyeing and finishing machines， knitting， stitch-bond， lace and auxiliary machinery.