The Italian contingent of exhibitors has confirmed its significant presence at the upcoming ITMA Barcelona. Italian technology will once again play a prominent role at the world's preeminent textile event, emphasizing its part in promoting eco-sustainability for the production chain in the textile industry.

Expectations are riding high for ITMA 2011, the global trade fair for the textile machinery sector, which will open its doors on 22 September in Barcelona. As for previous editions of the fair, Italy will once again be making a strong showing In July, 320 Italian exhibitors had already registered; they will to occupy an overall surface area of over 20,000 square metres (equal to roughly 25% of the total, both in terms of exhibitors and surface area).

"As usual, a large number of Italian companies are participating," underlines Sandro Salmoiraghi President of ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers. "It is the confirmation that our machinery manufacturers believe in this event, which remains the most important global meeting point event for the industry. "

Italian machinery manufacturers exhibiting in Barcelona can be divided into the following manufacturing sectors: 73 exhibitors represent the spinning sector, 13 specialize in the nonwovens sector, 42 in the weaving sector, 26 in the knitwear sector, 112 in the finishing sector, and 54 in other different areas covered at the trade fair.

"Italy's presence," affirms Salmoiraghi, "is significant not just from a numerical standpoint, but also in terms of quality. The technology proposals being put forward by our companies remain among the most advanced, and the growth of our export market, both in 2010 (+27% over the previous year) and for the first three months of 2011 (+37% over the first quarter of 2010), bear witness to the fact that textile manufacturers from a variety of different countries around the world continue to place their trust in our machinery to provide greater added value to their manufactured products."

ACIMIT's promotional campaign for ITMA 2011, conducted jointly with the Italian Trade Commission and Ministry for Economic Development, will focus on the issue of eco¬sustainability for technology offerings by Italian machinery builders. At the press conference slated to be held on 23 September at the Hotel Gallery in Barcelona, organized in partnership with the Italian Trade Commission and Ministry for Economic Development, ACIMIT will be presenting its "Sustainable Technologies" project .