As part of its ongoing efforts to serve the changing needs of global players, ITMA will feature a brand new section on fibres and yarns for its 2011 edition which will be held from 22 to 29 September at Fira de Barcelona Gran Vía, Spain.

The new fibres and yarns section of the exhibition will feature natural, man-made and technical fibres, as well as natural, synthetic and technical yarns.

With the new inclusion ITMA 2011 exhibits will now be classified into 18 separate sections, including spinning, winding and texturing, nonwovens production, weaving, knitting and hosiery, garment making and textile processing, embroidery and braiding, dyeing, printing and finishing, dyestuffs and chemicals, testing, recycling, logistics, software and research and education.

“The expanded product index will be a boon to textile and garment makers and manufacturers and professionals from other industrial sectors” said ITMA show owner, CEMATEX, the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers.

Stephen R. Combes, President of CEMATEX, stated: “With the business environment becoming more competitive and complex, buyers now prefer platforms that offer innovative, one-stop solutions for their total sourcing requirements.

Many of our visitors are leading manufacturers who are constantly exploring options to improve their productivity and to respond more quickly to customer demands. Some of their solutions include integrating the upstream and downstream processes, as well as adding value to their product and service offers”.

“Similarly, as an established industry exhibition, ITMA is also constantly looking at ways to be more customer-focused. In fact, over the last few months, we have received several requests from leading fibre manufacturers as well as from visitors to our shows asking us to include fibres and yarns in our product index.

According to the Oerlikon Textile Report ‘The Fiber Year’, global fibre consumption rose 4.2 per cent to 70.5 million tonnes in 2009. Man-made fibres increased 4 per cent to 44.1 million tonnes and natural fibres advanced 4.5 per cent to 26.4 million tonnes.

The Japan Chemical Fibres Association (JCFA) predicts that the world market demand for fibres will keep increasing. Its recently released 2009 market survey revealed that chemical fibre consumption is expected to reach 53.95 million tonnes by 2015. This represents a 24 per cent increase from the output level of 43.51 million tonnes registered in 2008.

Addressing this upward trend in global fibre consumption, we feel that it is very apt, as part of our 60th anniversary, to include this new chapter,” Mr Combes said.