Ｇｏｌｄ Ｒｕｓｈ ｔｏ Ｃｈｉｎａ ｆｏｒ Ｉｔａｌｉａｎ Ｍａｃｈｉｎｅ

Italy exported two billion worth of textile machines in 2006，46% of which went to Asia. China paid 365 million Euro tobecome the largest importer of Italy's machines in Aisa. China，a country that sustains Italian interest in coming， is the countrywhere the investment in textile machines is growing...

A ccording to the statisticsreleased from ITMF， in2006， 52% of the totalspinning textile machines and 63% ofthe total weaving machines around theworld were purchased by China.

Furthermore， in China， the yearof 2007 has witnesses a sustainableUptrend of textile machinery importsin the first quarter， and the trend willbe maintained through the whole yeardefinitely. According to the statisticsreleased from China Customs， theimports of textile machinery reached1.098 billion USD in the first threemonth of this year， representing anincrease of 35.26% compared to thesame period of last year.

There is no doubt， the boomingtextile machinery industry in Chinahas caught the eyes of overseas textilemachinery manufacturers， who areshowing interest not only in setting upmanufacture units and service centerin China， but also speeding up theirinvestment in this hot market. Italiantextile machinery manufacturers alsojoined the group.

On May 24th-25th， 2007，the Association of Italian TextileMachinery Manufacturers (ACIMIT)and the Italian Trade Commission (ICE)held a technical workshop on Italiantextile machinery for the productionof technical textiles and nonwovens inSuzhou (Jiangsu Province)， China.

At the technological meeting， someItalian manufacturers of machineryfor technical textiles and nonwovens(Biancalani Spa， Comez Spa， CorghiSpa， Cormatex Srl， Crosta Srl， FlainoxSrl， LGL Electronics Spa， Smit Spa)introduced their updated technologies，as well as exchanged views and ideason technology and held trade talks withlocal textile operators.

\"The Italian textile machineryindustry has a long tradition andit is a leading industry worldwide.China has always been one of themost important markets for Italiantextile machinery\"， said Mr. MaurizioForte， the commisioner of ItalianTrade Commision's Shanghai Office，\"Jiangsu province is very famous forits developed textile industry and weare very pleased to hold the seminarin Suzou， one of the most dynamiccities of Jiangsu province. Italianmanufacturers are to provide the state-of-art technology and equipment for thehi-tech innovative textile industry inChina.\"

As Dr. Mauro Badanelli，repsentitive of ACIMIT， decribed: \"Ifyou mentioned the textile industry inChina， Jiangsu province couln't beavioded. There are several famoustextile enterprises and industrial clusters，which have already become and will beour clients now and in future. This isthe place possessing great potentials forus. Moreover， many Italian merchantshave invested and opened their textilecompanies and manufacture units inJiangsu province， so that the Italiantextile machineries andeqipments are well-knownin this area comparing withother districts in China，that is one important reasonfor us to choose this area tohold this workshop\"

\"The quality ofItalian textile machinery istestify by the high numberof countries where themachinery is sold. Besides，Italian textile machinerymanufacturers emphsizemore on the demand ofcustomers， which counts more duringthe process of design and producing.This kind of workshop provides aplatform for textile machinery suppliersand Chinese buyers to have a face-to-face talk on the products， which couldbring a bilateral opportunity for thesuppliers to know what exactly thecustomers need， and for the buyersto know what they can gain\"， Mr.Ferdinando Gueli， Deputy TradeCommissioner of I.C.E Shanghai Officecommented.

\"We held this workshop every year.Last year， we chose Nanjing， anotherdynamic city in China. In the future， wewould like to take this fair nationwidein China. And I belive that， with ouradvanced technology and service oftextile machinery， China would feelmore helpful and useful to realize itstechnical upgrading and industrialdevelopment.\" Mr. Ferdinando Gueliadded.

Italian textilemachinery: a portrait

Textile machinery industryrequires great investment in research，deep know-how， long experience intextile， mechanic and electronic fields.Therefore， countries having a first classproduction are few.

Italy is today the secondmanufacturer of textile machinery in theworld and the technological level of itsproduction is considered of the higheststandard by the competitors themselves.

There are more than 300 Italianmanufacturers of textile machinery，employing about 22，000 workers.They are located in areas and towns ofancient textile tradition， just like Biella，Como， Varese， Bergamo， Brescia，Schio and Prato， where a profitableexchange of experience with the end-users is a stimulation contribution to theimprovement of the machineries.

With the advanced technologicallevel， the flexibility and versatility，the excellent quality/price ratio， thereliability and problem-free operation，and also the close and continuousrelationship with the textile and apparelindustry， the textile machinery industryin Italy has a world leadership， amongother reasons. Besides， research onsafety and environment is constantlycarried out in order to propose solutionskeeping the pace with European andinternational standards.

Italian textile machineries areable to process all natural and man-made fibers in order to give a completeanswer to all the requests of a modemtextile industry. The production ofItalian textile machinery is characterisedby a wide and complete range thatincludes:

Pre-spinning and spinning machinery

Winding， texturing and twistingmachinery

Nonwovens machinery

Weaving preparatory and weavingmachinery

Knitting and hosiery machinery

Washing，dyeing，printing andfinishing machinery

Laundry，dry-cleaning and ironingmachinery

According to the data presented byACIMIT， the Italian textile machineryindustry closed the year 2006 inpositive figures with revenues of Euro2.7 billion (+5% compared to 2005)，fully 78% of which were realizedabroad， for a value in exports exceedingEuro two billion (+4% with respect tothe previous year).

In 2006， Asia was the largestimporter of Italian textile machinery，nearly 46% of the total sales wererealized in Asia market. Then followedby the market of EU， Latin America，North America and Africa， taking aproportion of 35%， 7%， 6%， and 6%，repectively.

China， India and Turkey remainthe major markets for Italy's textilemachinery industry. In 2006， Chinabecame the largest importer of Italiantextile machinery， with a total sale of365 million Euro; India ranked thesecond place， and then followed byTurkey and America， with a value of183 million Euro， 178 million Euro and76 million Euro respectively.