The CIS market for plastic and rubber products stands for solid business and positive prospects. Despite the dampening effect of political vagaries and the current weakness of the rouble on the demand for plastic and rubber products, the country still has a significant need for investment. Production capacities are being modernized and expanded, particularly in the packaging and medical technology segment. The consumer goods and automotive segments are growing steadily, and the infrastructure of the largest European country with a population of 143 million is facing major challenges. In this situation, innovative solutions for all areas of the plastics and rubber processing industry are very much in demand, particularly because issues such as energy efficiency and recycling are becoming increasingly important.
Accordingly, exhibitors at interplastica 2014 gave a predominantly positive feedback on the four-day international trade fair for plastics and rubber. They reported a keen interest among specialist visitors, promising customer contacts and several signed contracts. Between 28 and 31 January 2014, 20,000 visitors from all members of the CIS attended interplastica and the packaging fair UPAKOVKA/UPAK ITALIA, both of which took place at the same time in Moscow. This result ties in with the one achieved by both trade fairs in the previous year.
Erhard Wienkamp, Division Director of Messe Düsseldorf, was delighted with this positive result: “Thanks to its representative international portfolio, interplastica is perceived and valued as an outstanding platform for technological innovation in Russia. This positive feedback and the fact that there was even a slight increase in the demand for exhibition space - only a few weeks after the flagship fair K 2013 - underlines the importance of this event. The companies know how important their market presence is. Even in turbulent times, they rely on interplastica to present their innovations to
customers from the CIS market, to maintain their customer contacts and to initiate new relations. Introducing a clearer structure to the fair, the new hall distribution elicited predominantly positive feedback from visitors and exhibitors.“
Organised by Messe Düsseldorf and its subsidiary OOO Messe Düsseldorf Moskau, the 17th interplastica was again hosted at Moscow’s trade fair grounds of Krasnya Presnya. A total of 687 exhibitors from 28 countries presented their products and services on 13,500 sqm net exhibition area, the “Forum” as well as exhibition halls 1 and 8 and, for the first time, hall 3 were fully booked, the latter by a cluster of extrusion and injection moulding machinery manufacturers. Official national participations came from China, Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Portugal. The largest contingencies of exhibitors came from Russia, Germany and China.
Germany remains to be number one among the most important suppliers to the Russian plastics and rubber processing industry, exporting a total of 32.2 % to this segment, followed by Italy (15.5 %) and China (13.9 %). In the first eleven months of 2013, German exports in this segment amounted to EUR 204 million, up 10,2 % on the result posted for the same period during the previous year. Between 2011 and 2012, global exports from plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers to Russia increased by 7.5%, corresponding to an overall value of about EUR 640 million.
For Bernd Nötel from the German Association for Plastics and Rubber Machinery within the VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau - German Engineering Federation), the Russian market remains promising, despite the dampening effect of political vagaries and the current weakness of the rouble on the demand for plastic and rubber machinery: “Negotiations drag on, some projects are postponed. In other areas however, there is still a great willingness to invest, contracts that were prepared at K 2013 in Düsseldorf for example, are now being signed. Business is going strong in the injection moulding and thermoforming segments, and rubber processing machines are in high demand. Thanks to state funding, investments into plastic pipe production and into the production of insulation material are rising. The emergence of
recycling as an important issue in Russia is rated as a positive development. So far, this development is still in its infancy, but there is a growing awareness that even countries with an abundance of natural resources must economize.“
Dr. Rüdiger Baunemann, Director General PlasticsEurope Deutschland e.V., recognizes a lot of potential in the raw material segment, both for polymer producers as well as for suppliers of additives such as stabilizers and flame retardants. At interplastica’s “Meeting Point Raw Materials”, Dr. Baunemann’s presentations on resource and energy efficiency as a driving force for innovation and sustainability attracted a lot of attention and met with keen interest. For the second time at interplastica, open seminars for exhibitors on new developments in raw material production and application were again conducted in cooperation with the Russian plastics portal Plastinfo.ru.
The exhibitors were impressed with the high level of professionalism among interplastica’s visitors, who appeared to be well prepared and approached the exhibitors with practical inquiries. In turn, visitors were delighted with the wide range of international exhibits presented at interplastica.
The next interplastica will take place in Moscow from 27 until 30 January, 2015, as usual in tandem with UPAKOVKA/UPAK ITALIA.