From 19 to 23 March, as part of Basque Prime Minister Patxi Lopez’s trade mission to India, the Spanish Association of Manufacturers of Machine Tools, Accessories, Component Parts and Tools, AFM, Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, is travelling to the country with a delegation of 18 companies.

India is the fourth largest market for exports for the machine tool sector, accounting for almost 6% of the total exported in 2011. It is a market with enormous potential for Spanish manufacturers whose products meet the needs of the following growth sectors in India: automotive, iron and steel, railway, energy, aeronautics, and even India’s own machine tool sector. Given the enormous interest that this market arouses among its associates, the AFM is planning another trade mission to India in November, in this case backed by the ICEX, and also to participate in the IMTEX Fair 2013 in Bangalore.

On this occasion, one of the Association’s main objectives for this trip is to promote the sector and the BIEMH, the Biennial Machine Tool fair to be held in Bilbao from 28 May to 2 June 2012 and for which more than 1,000 firms from 25 countries have confirmed their attendance. Therefore, a presentation of the sector and the fair took place on 20 March in the city of Pune, in collaboration with the local MAHRATTA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES AND AGRICULTURE. The Basque Government’s Minister for Industry, Innovation, Trade and Tourism, Bernabé Unda, the Marketing and Communication Director of the BEC (Bilbao Exhibition Centre), Mario Goffard, and the Managing Director of the AFM, Xabier Ortueta, all took part in the presentation.

The member-companies of the AFM taking part in the trade mission are: Fagor Arrasate, Ona Electroerosión, Soraluce, Zuazo, Masted Assembly, Danobat, Goratu, Wisco, Lantek, Talgo, Fresmak, Egaña, Juaristi, Kondia, Korta, Agme, Erlo, Danobat Group and Mecauto. Many of them form part of the group of 28 companies, members of the Association, which have their own offices and facilities in India, for both sales and production purposes.

AFM, Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, is the association resulting from the union of manufacturers of machine tools and accessories, component parts and tools, and groups together 138 member-companies with a potential turnover of close to €1.5bn. The sector represented has a collective workforce of 7,000 people employed directly and, it is estimated, at least the same number of indirectly employed people.