China’s steel industry star continues to shine

China is here to stay among the world’s leading industrial nations. It is easily the world’s biggest producer of steel, not to mention the biggest consumer. The lion’s share its steel demand comes from the construction industry, mechanical engineering and automotive manufacturing. China is also an extremely dominant player in the foundry industry, a major consumer of aluminum and copper, and a big producer of important non-ferrous metals and rare earths. These vital economic statistics are well catered for in the exhibition program of Metal + Metallurgy China, one of the world’s foremost trade fairs for foundry technology, industrial furnaces and smelter and rolling mill plant and equipment. Companies from all around the world use Metal + Metallurgy China as a springboard into the Chinese market and as a platform for managing relationships with existing Chinese customers and partners.
Metal + Metallurgy China, the biggest trade show of its kind in Asia and the second-biggest worldwide, is a mega-cluster comprising four main constituent shows: the China International Foundry Expo, the China International Metallurgical Industry Expo, the China International Industrial Furnaces Exhibition and the China International Refractories and Industrial Ceramics Exhibition. Staged over four days, from 31 March to 3 April, at the newly built China Expo Complex in Shanghai’s Hongqiao district, this year’s Metal + Metallurgy China attracted 61,349 visitors, including buyer delegations from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Iran. It featured a total of 1,026 exhibitors from 20 countries and regions and spanned 67,000 square meters (721,000 sq. ft.) of display area. The show was last held in 2014 in Beijing, and these pleasing results are testimony to the great progress the show has made since then.
This year’s exhibitor lineup featured a great many industry heavyweights, such as I.M.F., DISA, Savelli, Sinto, Fondarc, Morgan, Eirich, ABP, Inductotherm, Capital, Insertec, Primetals, Andritz, Fill, Exone, ASK, Ebner, Kao, Fuji Electric, Paul Wurth, Grenzebach SH, Changzhou Hidea, Zhiheng and Magma. The German Pavilion featured an array of innovative casting and metallurgical products by Uni-Geräte GmbH, ASK Chemicals, Küttner and Drache; and the Chinese Pavilion was home to numerous leading companies from Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Nanjing, Wuxi, Changzhou, Xuzhou, Ningbo, Qingdao, Wuhan, Fujian, Dalian, Jinan, Zhengzhou and Changsha.
 

This year’s show featured a restructured exhibition layout that put the focus squarely on the international exhibitors with a view to fostering global competition, lead generation and dialogue. The restructure also added a new section dedicated especially to robotics and automation technology – a reflection of the increasing worldwide demand for industrial robots and the growth of the automation sector generally. The new exhibition area showcased a comprehensive range of robotics solutions for the casting and metal industry. World-leading robotics and automation specialists, including ABB, Fanuc und KUKA, used the exhibition area to present the latest in versatile, high-speed, high-precision robotics technology and to stage an eye-popping contest for automation technology that attracted a great deal of visitor interest.
Metal + Metallurgy China 2015 also hosted a variety of industry summits, forums and technical seminars, including the China International Steel Summit, the 7th Chinese Foundry Summit, the China International Thermal Processing Technology Forum, the 3rd China International Refractory Production and Application Conference, and the 13th International Steel Market and Trade Conference. These events yielded quality dialogue on current industry trends, with top experts, company representatives and international industry leaders discussing how best to facilitate stable, sustainable growth in the metal and metallurgy industry in today’s complex macroeconomic environment. Several international exhibitors, including Avure, Paul Wurth, Primetals Technologies and FLOW-3D Cast, used the summits, forums and seminars to give company presentations.
Metal + Metallurgy China 2015 was organized by the China Iron and Steel Association, the China Foundry Association, the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, the Metallurgical Council of CCPIT, the Industrial Furnace Institution of CMES, and Hannover Milano Fairs Shanghai Ltd, the Chinese subsidiary of Deutsche Messe AG based in Hannover, Germany.
This success of Metal + Metallurgy China 2015 was underscored by the extensive coverage it received from CCTV, Shanghai Television, the Xinhua News Agency, China News Service, Economic Daily and many other media organizations.