ITMA 2011 held at Barcelona in Spain started off with a lot of skepticism in view of the worsening global economic crisis and the uncertainties gripping the Indian cotton yarn industry. Many Indian as well as overseas exhibitors withdrew their participation a couple of weeks before the show. Even those who braved the odds and confirmed their participation kept their fingers crossed over the outcome of the show.
However, fortune favours the bold, as the saying goes. ITMA 2011 surpassed all expectations. With more than one lakh business visitors, the show has been rated highly successful by all the exhibitors, particularly the Indian participants. Many of them signed up big orders during the show, and “success” was the consensus among the participants in general.
Although much of manufacturing has moved to India and China, Europe continues to be the R&D centre of the global textile industry. ITMA is indeed a platform to showcase new products and technologies. The focus is always on improving efficiencies and green technologies.
India led from the front with 125 participants and over 5,000 visitors. The exact number would be much higher, but it was very obvious that the maximum number of visitors, outside of Europe, came from India. VDMA, the German Association of Textile Machinery Manufacturers, confirmed that 47 per cent of the visitors to its member-stalls in the first few days were from India.
Team Textile Magazine was present from start to finish capturing every interesting moment at ITMA. In the next two issues, we will present some of the major highlights of the show. I hope you enjoy reading this exclusive coverage. If you need to know more about the ITMA participants, do drop us a mail at textile.magazine@gmail.com