疫情對于英国的整个行业都是一个不小的打击。对英国的纺织机械行业而言，订单量有所下降，但幅度不大。与2019年相比，2020年纺织机械的总出货量仅下降3%。我们相信疫情很快就会得到控制，到7月中旬，整个英国的人口都将接种疫苗，那时纺织行业也将恢复正轨。与此同时，国际社会对英国制造的纺织机械仍有相当大的需求，我们的制造商也正在推进他们的生产计划。预计2021年底到2022年初对新机械的需求将会增加。然而，对于那些没有充分稳定疫情使疫情常态化的国家来说，情势并不轻松。
　　出行限制和签证发放以及隔离要求意味着此次参加ITMA ASIA的展商们不能面对面同潜在客户交流。这对国际展商来说，确实受到了严重的影响。当地的展商也会受制于地方的社交准则。在展览面积上，主办方可能会考虑减少展出面积，国际参展商的工作人员也将减少。但总的来说，这次展览势必会取得巨大的成功。
　　在出口方面，我们的主要销售区在欧洲，美国也是我们的主要销售国。此次我们有七家优质企业参展。我们可以保证，每个展品都经过企业们精心的设计，充分考虑到环境友好的因素，使用起来既高效又可持续，具体细节我们可以在展会上见分晓。在智能化方面，欧洲的纺织机械企业投入了大量资金，以确保他们的最新产品能够满足纺织生产商日益增长的需求，即与可持续发展相结合的、更加灵活的生产方法和系统。
　　亚洲纺织行业发展迅速，新兴市场层出不穷。但在过去的两到三年中，中国对于英国产的纺机需求已经下降了相当大的部分。谈及地位，中国仍然是一个及其重要的市场并引领着亚洲的纺织业。而印度正在被孟加拉国、巴基斯坦和斯里兰卡赶超也是不争的事实。
　　目前，全球的纺织业都面临着这样的几个挑战：稳定的生产力，关税变化，环境影响及社会因素。纺机行业的未来显然是工业4.0的时代。企业们将更加重视自主系统、机器人、智能制造和企业资源规划这些方面。对于中国纺织机械企业来说，继续开发纺机机械设备和提升产品的售后服务非常重要。
　　UK textile industry will be recovered in July
　　Interview with Alan Little， Association Director of BTMA
　　The outbreak is a blow to the whole industry in the UK. We cannot comment on the textile market in the UK other than they are suffering from delays in obtaining supplies of raw material from overseas. However， with reference to the textile machinery industry in the UK there has been a fall in orders， but not a dramatic one. Overall shipments of textile machinery in 2020 only fell by 3% compared with 2019. We believe that the pandemic is coming under control and that the whole population of the UK will have received a vaccination by mid-July. This is when we expect things to return to normal. In the meantime， there is still a reasonably good demand for UK made textile machinery and our manufacturers are pushing ahead with their production programme. We expect that the demand for new machinery will increase towards the end of 2021/beginning of 2022. However， it will be difficult for those countries that have not stabilized the pandemic sufficiently to allow things to normalize.
　　It has had a major impact on international exhibitors as restrictions on travel and issuing VISAS plus the quarantine requirements means they cannot meet potential customers face to face. For local exhibitors they will be bound by the local distancing rules etc. Overall， the exhibition will be slightly smaller with less machinery from international exhibitors using local staff to man their stand. However， there is no doubt that the show will be a great success. 　　As for the export market， 0ur main sales region is Europe and the main nation currently is the USA. This time we have 7 local enterprises exhibiting， all of them producing high quality equipment and services. As an Association we cannot divulge details other than the equipment being shown is carefully designed to take into account environmental issues， efficiency， and sustainability. I believe that textile machinery enterprises in Europe have invested heavily in ensuring that their latest developments meet the increasing demands of the textile producers with regards to increased and flexible production methods and systems combined with sustainability.
　　It is true that the Asian textile industry is developing rapidly however the Chinese market has certainly slowed down in their requirement for UK made textile machinery over the past 2 or 3 years. However， China still represents an important market and leads the way in Asia. India is being overtaken by Bangladesh， Pakistan， and Sri Lanka.
　　Now， the biggest challenges facing the global textile industry are maintaining stability and productivity， changes to tariffs， environmental impact， and social challenges. There will obviously be greater emphasis on the Fourth Industrial Revolution （Industry 4.0） involving autonomous systems， robotics， smart manufacturing， and ERP. For the Chinese textile machinery enterprises， it is important that they continue to develop their machinery and after sales service.