The HN series hook-on sideshifter also manufactured and distributed in Europe and USA.

Italian forklift attachment maker Bolzoni Auramo, which has just opened a subsidiary and plant in Shanghai, China, has high hopes for the Chinese market.

The new company, Bolzoni Auramo (Shanghai) Forklift Truck Attachment Co Ltd, is a joint venture with the Tiger group, a Bolzoni distributor in China since 1998.

Bolzoni will produce the hook-on sideshifter range in Shanghai for the Chinese market and plans to increase its production range at the plant. For now, the rest of the range is imported from Europe.

Carlo Fallarini, Bolzoni sales & marketing director, said paper roll clamps and bale clamps were the most important attachments in the Chinese market.

"The plans are not yet complete. We are analysing those two product families and [production] could start in 2006. We could have exports to other Asian markets," he said.

"Our choice to manufacture in China is a strategic decision because we want to be closer to the market and our customer needs," he said.

Fallarini said that, at the end of August, the Chinese market consisted of 42,000 counterbalanced forklifts with a growth of 13 per cent over the same period of 2004.

He said there had been year-on-year double digit growth in the Chinese market of more than 30 per cent for the past few years.

"In 2004, there were 59,000 units, 44,000 units in 2003, 33,000 units in 2002 and 20,000 units in 2001."