WoodMac China, and co-located events WoodBuild and FurniTek China 2011, closed last week in Shanghai with a 22 percent increase in attendance reported - 16, 730 for the four days. The show sponsors - China National Forestry Machinery Association; Deutsche Messe AG and China International Exhibitions, a member of Allworld Exhibitions - say 1,950 people from 80 countries outside China visited, a record.

WoodMAC China was also the setting for the world’s first showing of Raute’s latest wood manufacturing technology, a debut "set against a background of rising business confidence in sales of woodworking technology to the Chinese domestic market," say the show sponsors.

WoodMAC China recorded a 20% growth in floor space, to a total 35,000 square meters (376,000 square feet), with biggest growth from European panel technology companies and Chinese exhibitors of forestry, panel board, furniture, wood flooring, window and door and other wood product manufacturing technology.

Much of the international participation was coordinated by national wood technology associations from Germany, the VDMA and from Italy, ACIMALL. WoodMac China 2011 was exclusively supported by the 13-member country associations that together make up EUMABOIS the European Federation of Woodworking Associations. Chinese participation is coordinated by China National Forestry Machinery Association and the private sector woodworking guilds of Shanghai, Harbin in North China, Qingdao, in the East and Shunda, South China.

The 16,730 visitor headcount represented a 22 percent rise over 2009, the last time WoodMAC was staged, representing the improvement in domestic wood manufacturing market conditions in China, and leading to sales both domestically and abroad. “We have sold 200 panel saw machines and eight edgebanding machines on the first two days of the show to overseas buyers,” Eric Liu, Vice Chairman and President, Unisunx Woodworking Machinery, Qingdao China.

“We are very pleased to have received an order from Iran on the first show day” said Sergio Ippoliti, who handles international sales for Instalmec Italy. Chinese mainland attendance was 14,700; those from abroad traveled from as far as Brazil to Peru to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and India, to Iran to Russia and Mongolia, Malaysia to Indonesia. A Filipino visitor, Robert Kua, MD, Ruterna Holdings, Philippines, said he "met 8 suppliers of rotary lathes and concluded a purchase contract with one of them” while at the show.

Alongside the exhibition the leading Chinese wood industry associations and institutes organized conferences including a technology forum for labor efficient woodworking machines and energy saving cutting tools; flooring and cabinet makers AGM; wood in interior design; and controlling production quality for wood product manufacturing. Organizers say all the events were over-subscribed.

Demand in China for new faster, labor-saving and energy efficient wood machining technology is strong as its domestic market matures, according to Brendan Jennings, GM, China International Exhibitions. “As world and domestic customers of wood products demand higher quality at affordable prices, Chinese producers have matured and now recognized the benefits to be gained by employing quality technology over price,” Jennings says.