The 2016 wire & Tube China event successfully concluded on 29 September at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, after proving once again to be one of Asia’s most influential trade platforms.

The exhibition explored ways of facing transformations and changes together within the industry as a whole and showcasing the cutting-edge products, technologies and solutions from a new perspective.

Bolstered by the trade fair’s strong appeal and support from various organisations, wire and Tube China 2016 hosted a record-breaking number of 42,199 trade visitors from 94 countries and regions, an increase of 10.9% over the previous edition.

In addition to the large number of local professionals, a growing presence of overseas buyers attended the fair.

The top ten source countries and regions of overseas visitors include South Korea, India, China Taiwan, Japan, Russia, Malaysia, Iran, Thailand, US, Indonesia and Vietnam.

By virtue of the newly upgraded Fasteners Shanghai Special Zone and two novel outdoor pavilions, the total exhibition area reached an unprecedented 97,000m2 to accommodate 1,645 exhibitors from 31 countries and regions.

In addition, many international pavilions from Germany, Italy, North America, Australia, France, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan provided increasing international participation enabling visitors to discover cutting-edge products from around the world without going abroad.

The achievements from transformations by Chinese enterprises also made their stunning debut, as many domestic-produced equipment and technologies with independent intellectual property rights and brand influence became another highlight for overseas buyers.

Exhibitors and visitors meet face to face, sparking business opportunities and cooperation

This year, wire & Tube China 2016 has made great progress in every aspect, reaffirming its leading position in Asia’s wire and tube industry.

Both exhibitors and visitors were greatly satisfied to achieve their business goals at the show.

Wafios CFO Dr.-lng. Christoph Müller-Mederer said: "The biennial Wire &Tube China brings together high-quality buyers from China and many surrounding countries, some of whom have already signed on-site letters of intent to purchase.

"This show has clearly become an important channel for Wafios to expand into the Asian market. I believe that with the advancement of Industry 4.0, the industry as a whole will become better and better."

Shanghai Kingstone Cable & Equipment general manager Zhao Jianyi added: "We have witnessed the 12 years’ development of this event. By virtue of this platform, we have been continually optimising our company image and have succeeded in many business opportunities.

"In the future, we will make better use of this offline platform and showcase our cable manufacturing technologies to our global buyers."

Han*S Laser Technology Industry Group head of sheet metal division Xia Jianjie noted: "During the exhibition, we have met many professional buyers seeking for precision pipe cutting technologies, providing convenience for Han*S Laser to obtain bigger market shares.

"I am satisfied with the exhibition and it brings us good results. I hope more friends from both upstream and downstream pipe industries will participate in the exhibition."

The exhibition has also been greatly rewarding to the buyers. Spain-based VINCO purchase coordinator Ander Garcia-Arino said: "I have attended wire & Tube China for many years. This is an excellent opportunity for us to secure new suppliers and better cooperation.

"During the four-day show, I was acquainted with new suppliers from Europe and Mexico, which gives us the advantages for our global reach."

US ALYTA International Corporation president Alex Garcia explained: "we are mainly engaged in production of carbon steel and stainless steel pipes.

"The exhibition is condensed, but I have successfully met with two Chinese suppliers via the wire & Tube China platform. I am satisfied with the results."

Several domestic buyers also found suitable suppliers during the exhibition.

Mr. Tian from BSH Electrical Appliances (Jiangsu) told us: "As Asia’s largest professional wire and cable exhibition, wire & Tube China provides the visitors the opportunities to understand the development trends and cutting-edge products and technologies of the industry.

"We focus on wires and fasteners industries, especially on spring machinery and wire bending machines.

"During the exhibition, we were able to meet with many suppliers for relevant products; a really prolific experience."

Thirty-eight seminars offering in-depth and well-rounded analysis of industrial development

Themed ‘Innovation, Optimization and Vitality’, the 2016 China Wire & Cable Industry Conference focused on exploring the innovative, optimised and vitality reinforced road of development for China’s manufacturing industry under the new normal economy.

During the forum, guests interpreted the 13th Five Year industrial development strategy and guiding opinions, providing insights for the wire industry to understand the future of the industry’s adjustment, improvement and development.

The debut of Tube & Pipe Industry Development Seminar 2016 also received positive feedback from the visitors which, through enlightening lectures, launched discussions on how to direct the pipe enterprises to transform and update product structures and adapt to market demands, how to improve technologies to meet with higher customer requirements and how to develop cross-border e-commerce of steel pipes in China.

ITA executive secretary Dietger Schrörs, a supporter of the event, pointed out: "Although the global tube and pipe market is facing downward pressure, we and our member units are actively looking for ways to stay competitive in the existing market and face new challenges.

"I believe that in the next two years, the pipe industry will present new opportunities."

The 12-year history of the exhibition acts as a microcosm of a sustainable and growing market.

While the industry as a whole faces a bottleneck, wire & Tube China presents new concepts, new directions and new transformations, and has driven the sustainable development of wire and pipe production, processing and trade.

As the premier exchange platform, the exhibition brings together global industry professionals and, under the tenet of ‘going global and welcoming in’, the participants have found inspiration and creativity during the four-day event to explore further development opportunities.

The next edition of wire & Tube China will be held from 26 to 29 September 2018 at Shanghai New International Expo Centre.

We look forward to your participation; see you then!