Date : Dec 11, 2008

Taipei, Dec. 11, 2008 (CENS)--The 2009 Taipei International Tool Show (2009 TIMTOS) will attract 850 exhibitors from at home and abroad with booth number reaching 4,800, hitting a historic-high record and up a whopping 73% from the last session held in 2007.

The biennial show will be held March 2-7 at the three exhibition halls of the Taipei World Trade Center in tandem with the Nangang Exhibition Hall. The show is co-organized by the government-backed Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI) and the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders` Association (TMBA).

TAITRA vice president Walter Yeh said the TIMTOS has stood firm as one of Asia`s top-three machine-tool shows, despite the slowdown of the global machinery industry. He predicted the show to create more than US$900 million in transaction value, both on-the-spot and follow-up deals.

To help promote Taiwan-made machine tools and accessories, the TAMI has targeted such emerging markets as Russia, India and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Yeh said a large number of mainland Chinese will be invited to visit the show.

According to an estimate made by the TAMI, the 2009 TIMTOS will attract 700 mainland Chinese visitors, 2.5 times that of last session in 2007.

TAMI chairman Fred P.C. Huang noted domestic machinery industry can hardly achieve annual production value of NT$960 billion (US$28.65 million at US$1:NT$33.5) in 2008 because of the sharp decline in the fourth quarter. He predicted the industry`s output value at NT$930 billion (US$27.76 million) in 2008, up 6.5% from 2007`s NT$873 billion (US$26.05 million).

Huang said the 2009 TIMTOS will secure a 20% internationalization rate. In addition to domestic firms, will also come from 15 nations and regions, including Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, South Korea, India, Switzerland, Israel, Singapore, Malaysia, mainland China and Hong Kong.

Well-known domestic exhibitors to participate in the 2009 TIMTOS will include She Hong Industrial Co., Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co., Yeong Chin Machinery Industry Co., Tongtai Machine & Tool Co., Quaser Machine Tools Co., AWEA Mechantronic Co., Falcon (Chevalier) Machine Tools Co., Ching Hung Machinery & Electric Industry Co., Hiwin Technologies Corp., Chin Fong Machine Industrial Co., and Keyarrow (Taiwan) Co.

Foreign exhibitors include Okuma, Mazak, DMG, Yasda, Toyoda, Sodick, Kuka, Fanuc, Siemens, Sony and Bosch.

Source: CENS