With the weak economy and attendee registrations at June’s NPE show dropping close to 30 percent, to an estimated 44,000, it proved an even tougher decision this year. It was clear in interviews with Chinese and other Asian exhibitors there that this year’s show was decidedly mixed for them, with some reporting disappointing results and others saying sales leads were solid.

Apo Ho, sales manager with Taiwanese injection press maker Huarong Plastic Machinery Co. Ltd., said the show was “not so promising.”

“We did have some achievements but the crowd is not as much as I expected,” said Ho, whose Tainan-based company had a booth at the head of the Taiwanese pavilion, in a well-trafficked area in the South Hall. “After all, this is considered one of the top three exhibitions for plastics. I was a little disappointed.”

He said in past North American shows Huarong has exhibited at, visitors would ask if they could buy the demonstration machine the company brought to the show, but not this year. He speculated that the large number of used machines available in auctions from factory closings was depressing demand for new equipment.

“North America will not be a big market for the next several years,” he said.

Others, however, reported better results. Some Asian exhibitors said that even with attendance down, they made good contacts with the right buyers at North American firms, particularly large multinationals. That echoed the story put out by NPE organizers, who argued the show was still attracting serious buyers and attendees.

Some Chinese firms, such as fluoropolymer maker Chenguang Research Institute of the Chemical Industry, said the global downturn was creating openings for new entrants as companies looked for cheaper sources of raw materials.

“The global crisis influences people to look for low-cost sources,” said a saleswoman in the company’s small booth. “The people here are not as many as we thought but most visitors have great potential for us.”

The company, based in Chengdu, Sichuan province, was satisfied with its first NPE, she said.

Several China-based toolmakers said they thought the show attracted serious buyers.

An executive with Hong Kong’s VEM Tooling (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd said “the volume of people was slow but the quality of people good.”

And Shenzhen, Guangdong province-based mold maker Mold Technik Industrial Co. Ltd. said its first NPE was paying off: “We are getting exposed to some big companies,” a salesman said.

Some of the negative Chinese and Asian reaction may be colored by what they see in their home markets, where shows have seemed stronger — attendance at the biggest show in China this year, the annual Chinaplas event organized by Hong Kong’s Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd., for example, was down only 4 percent, to about 69,000.

And India’s big PlastIndia 2009 show in New Delhi last February was well attended, as both of those economies have kept growing, and buyers in both countries are less skittish than in North America, exhibitors said.

Several Chinese machinery and materials suppliers, for example, said their domestic sales in May and June were back to levels from last summer, before the crisis.

More Chinese firms came to the show this year, nearly 200, compared to about 115 at the last NPE in 2006, making Chinese firms the largest foreign delegation. And several Chinese and Indian companies said they were using the show to scout acquisitions in the United States and Europe.

Still, some Chinese exhibitors complained of the cost of the booth and expenses at this year’s show, relative to the benefits they perceived, and some large Hong Kong and Taiwanese press makers opted to skip this year’s NPE.

An executive at one of China’s largest extruder makers, Jwell Extrusion Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., said his company chose to come to NPE because it’s an international show, and the event has many potential South American customers as well.

The Shanghai-based company debated bringing machinery to the show, but the sparse crowds made it glad it did not take on that extra cost, said General Manager Tony Liu.

“We did not expect [attendance] to be so poor,” said Liu. “We expected more people to come to the show.”