Haitian builds strong market position in Brazil

Visiting the company's Brasilplast stand on Wednesday of last week's big show, it was easy to believe the company's outsized performance in the country. Speaking with PlasticsToday from the company's people-packed booth, Xu said that at that point, about halfway through the event, the company had booked orders for 50 new injection molding machines. Some of the deals had been in the works prior to the fair, but Xu said 100% of that figure was finalized in São Paulo at the Anhembi events center. The company was on pace to match its 2009 Brasilplast sales mark of 110 machines.

After establishing a subsidiary in the state of São Paulo in 2003, the business has grown to 45 employees. New at the show and for the market was the company's Venus line of Zhafir brand all-electric injection molding machines. Xu said next year Haitian would launch its Pallas line of presses in Brazil, which apply AC servomotors to cut energy usage up to 80% when compared with conventional, asynchronous solutions with control pumps.

Xu said the local automotive market is Haitian's strongest in the country. He put his company's machines in a third class of presses sold into the market in terms of price, just behind local offerings like Romi, but ahead of fellow Chinese and Taiwanese importers, with both groups trailing North American and European systems.