TPT July 2012

Shanghai’s reputation as the Paris of the East may rest on the vibrancy of its 20-million-strong consumer market, abounding as it does in high- and middle- income earners generating demand for the best of imported wares. But the largest city in the People’s Republic of China serves a much wider constituency than this demographic. Geography has placed Shanghai on China’s east coast. Its preeminence in commerce, finance, industry, and communications puts it squarely at the centre of the ever-widening sphere of Chinese influence in the world. As the megalopolis of this mega region, Shanghai furnishes the ideal site for Tube China, whose delegates need no convincing of the importance of the Greater China marketplace. China has emerged as the leading destination for manufacturing investment and purchasing by multinational companies in a range of businesses. Of particular interest to those in the tube making industry is the Chinese aviation sector. Industry forecasts predict a 300% increase in air travel in China, from 230 million passengers in 2009 to 700 million in 2020 – and a further doubling to 1.5 billion passengers by 2030. Tube China 2012 in Shanghai is designed to assist the effort to explore the extraordinary opportunities offered by the blazing Chinese economy – second-largest worldwide and showing no signs of let-up.

www.tubechina.net