Forklift industry members say the big players were missing from this year's CeMAT Asia.

Nearly 60,000 people from 80 countries and regions turned up for the four-day combined PTC Asia and CeMAT Asia expos at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre last week.

"The complete success of this year's events reveals that these two international trade shows possess considerable potential to expand," says Wolfgang Pech, senior vice president of expo organiser Deutsche Messe AG. "We will develop the show further, introducing more advanced technologies and more marketing measures to attract all relevant visitor target groups for our exhibitors."

According to Deutsche Messe, the number of CeMAT Asia overseas visitors increased by 8% from last year. A total of 450 exhibitors demonstrated their intralogistics products and services in 28,000 sqm (301,390 sqft.) of exhibition space.

Forklift manufacturers that exhibited include KION Baoli, Crown, Still, Combilift, Ruyi, Yougao, Shantui Group and Maximal.

Newcomer Shantui exhibited its new forklift models, while established company Crown showcased over 10 forklifts for different applications. The US manufacturer also unveiled its RMD 6000s series forklift to the Chinese market.

"Since tapping the Chinese market, Crown has witnessed a 50% average growth rate per year by sales volume," says Crown Shanghai managing director Simon Tang.

Sang Tian, vice president of EP Equipment, says the Hangzhou manufacturer skipped this year's CeMAT Asia but plans to participate next year. "We think it's too tiring for us to do it every year. It's better for us to invest our time and money in factory development and wait for next time ... Also, we attended CeMAT Germany this year, so it didn't make sense to exhibit in the Shanghai one."

LiuGong's forklift division sent engineers and management personnel to the show but did not exhibit. "LiuGong, along with many other large Chinese manufacturers, elected to forego this exhibition in favour of larger international shows across the globe," says company spokeswoman Stacie Adams.

WE-LIFT Equipment Co Ltd sales manager Dennis Cheng was disappointed with the show. "It's the worst CeMAT Asia. Some well-known companies like Heli and Hangcha did not participate. Compared to last year, about one-third of the exhibitors participated this year."

Cheng adds that many exhibiting companies at CeMAT Asia had complained about their poor orders for September and October. "We are afraid of another global economic crisis. Next year may be very difficult for all Chinese companies to export overseas."

Linde Material Handling spokesman Detlef Sieverdingbeck says Linde did not exhibit at CeMAT Asia because the company had exhibited at CeMAT Hannover earlier this year. "We plan to participate in Shanghai once every two years. For every trade show, we have to check the right balance between the expenses and the results."

Mitsuru Yonekawa from Nissan Forklift says the Japanese manufacturer did not participate "due to some business decision" and has no further comment.

South Korean forklift manufacturer Doosan Industrial Vehicles did not exhibit at CeMAT Asia for several reasons. Spokesman Young Lee says Doosan felt the show did not focus strongly on its targeted market sectors. "The focus appears to have shifted to warehousing rather than pure materials handling, and the absence of the larger Chinese forklift manufacturers is further evidence of this.

"Our focus for China and the Far East is on developing our existing infrastructure and distributor network and will work with our partners to support them if they choose to appear at local exhibitions."

A total of 1,950 exhibitors for PTC Asia and CeMAT Asia presented their products and solutions for power transmission and intralogistics in a combined floor space of 120,000 sqm (1,291,679 sqft.) on 28-31 October.

During the four-day event, overseas delegations and buyers from Germany, Turkey, South Korea, India, Thailand and other east Asian countries visited the show.

"PTC Asia and CeMAT Asiacreate an ideal platform for buyers and users to talk business at one time and seek their suppliers. I visited the Italian booths and was very interested in their innovative products such as a 'working desk' made in Italy," says Liu Zaizheng, senior engineer of China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Co Ltd.

CeMAT Asia included exhibitors from the crane, packing and transportation equipment, auto-ID and AGV sectors.

Germany, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan held national pavilions for the two shows, with organisers reporting that the participants intended to expand their booths for next year.

The shows were organised by Deutsche Messe AG, Hannover Milano Fairs Shanghai Ltd., China Hydraulics Pneumatics & Seals Association, China General Machine Components Industry Association, China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing and Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society. The next edition will be on 29 October to 1 November 2012, in Shanghai.