China Glass 2009 Brings in Mixed Reviews from Exhibitors and Others

The 20th China International Glass Industrial and Technical Exhibition (China Glass 2009) took place at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, May 13-16, 2009. Organized by the Chinese Ceramic Society and co-organized by the Shanghai Ceramic Society, more than 800 companies from around the world exhibited at the event.

Exhibitors at China Glass represented 23 countries, including several from the United States. The exhibition area spanned 55,000 square meters--the largest in the history of the show.

For Michael Spellman, president of IGE Solutions in Jupiter, Fla., this year marked his sixth time attending the China Glass. IGE Solutions' national sales manager Manny Borda and West Coast sales manager Cliff Green both attended for the first time. Spellman says he and his team enjoyed the uniqueness "of the amazing city of Shanghai."

"At the show we all were very surprised to see the attendance high in such a down world economy. There seemed to be absolutely no signs of recession at the show," says Spellman. "We learned there were 836 exhibitors with 229 from foreign countries taking up a huge majority of the new exhibition center."

Spellman says that having attended the show for six years he was surprised by the overall quality of the Chinese booths and the quality of what was being exhibited.

"Each year it seems to get better and better, but this year it seemed to take a quantum leap forward. Most of our time was spent in two halls where our Chinese manufacturers, Landglass, Tenon, Hangdon and Golive were displaying," he says, adding that they barely had time to see the entire show. "Each of our Chinese manufacturers was extremely happy with the results from the show with much better sales than anticipated."

While Spellman reported strong attendance and show participation, Mark Silverberg, general manager of Technoform Glass Insulation NA Inc. in Twinsburg, Ohio, thought attendance was down this year due to the construction crisis from last year.

Silverberg also said that attendees primarily hailed from China and other Asia-Pacific countries. While in the Technoform booth, he had the opportunity to speak with attendees from Australia and New Zealand, the Middle East and India, as well as a few attendees from North America.

According to Silverberg, among the biggest booths at the show were those of glass processing and insulating glass equipment companies, including Chinese IG equipment companies Tenon and Han Jiang. He noted that some of his company's customers including South Glass, Pilkington, St. Gobain and Xinyi, went all-out with displays.