Originally scheduled for October of last year, ITMA ASIA + CITME 2020 instead took place June 12-15, 2021, at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, China. The event combined the unique strengths of the ITMA brand with China’s most important textile event, China Textile Machinery Association (CITME).
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While ITMA Asia has been the biggest textile industry trade show in Asia, the official number of attendees for ITMA Asia 2020 show was 65,000 and the number of exhibitors was 1,237—significantly lower than the 2018 show (100,000 and 1,773, respectively) and a record low in attendance overall. Taking place across 160,000 square meters, using six exhibition halls, the event showcased spinning machinery, finishing devices for textile printing and dyeing, knitting devices, weaving devices, and textile printing devices.
Printheads were a major element of the show, with Epson penetrating the market with their I3200/S3200 heads (to a yet to be determined degree of success). Epson released their new printheads, which earned them success among industrial, higher-end devices as well as low to mid-range devices. There was no doubt that Epson’s leader position in sublimation market could not be taken by other vendors. To meet the needs of direct-to-fabric (DTF) applications, Epson introduced new S3200-A3 5pl printhead.
That said, from the perspective of OEM vendors, Kyocera printheads still dominated the industrial high-speed printing device market. Ricoh also returned to digital textile printing industry with an upgraded Gen 6 printhead. In the exhibition, there were two OEM vendors (HOPETECH and BYDI) that were mainly promoting Gen 6 printheads on their devices.
Some other takeaways from the show include that Atexco, Homer, and HOPETECH’s presence increased in the market by showing their new DTF printers; new Chinese vendors (e.g., HPRT and HIINK) entered the digital textile printing market; and no vendors showed any single-pass devices at this time, as many have seen the challenges these devices can present. Instead, a few Chinese vendors showed high-end scan DTF printers.
Other vendors that exhibited at ITMA Asia 2020 include:
Our Take
It’s worth noting that while the delay of the event due to the pandemic didn’t help, there were other mitigating factors that contributed to the lower attendance level—including the overlapping of this event with weekend of the Dragon Boat Festival (a traditional Chinese festival), increased overseas orders in China, and factories being too busy with production.
Looking at ITMA ASIA 2020, Chinese local vendors—especially Atexco, Homer, and Hopetech—are showcasing their momentum. It is getting tougher for international vendors to penetrate the Chinese market, and Chinese print vendors are now exporting more outside China with the improved print quality. Keypoint Intelligence will continuously watch the market trends and demands as the China textile market continues to expand.
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