Exhibitors close numerous deals at trade fair duo pacprocess Tehran and IPAP

The debut of the combined trade fairs pacprocess Tehran, as part of the interpack alliance, and IPAP Printing & Packaging Expo – powered by drupa, has markedly exceeded both exhibitors’ and visitors’ expectations and also prompted satisfied faces among the organisers Messe Düsseldorf and Barsaz Rooydad Pars Company (BRP). Some 7,500 experts were attracted to Iran’s most state-of-the-art exhibition centre Shahr-e-Aftab (Exhibiran International) from 12 to 15 October, where 167 exhibitors from 11 countries presented their products and services. The ranges included exhibits from the entire value chain of the packaging industry and related process industries (pacprocess) as well as printing technologies from the areas of Prepress/Print, Premedia/Multichannel, Postpress, Converting and Packaging, Materials, Equipment, Services and Infrastructure (IPAP). The trade fairs occupied 14,575 square metres of total exhibition space. Exhibitors included national companies such as Vana Press, Shargh Sanat and Kooshesh Karan Machinery as well as international enterprises like Canon Middle East, Di Mauro, and Project Engineering. Commenting on this Hamed Irani, Director BRP, said: “The importance of the print and packaging industries cannot be rated high enough. They lay the foundation for the competitiveness of a wide variety of products and are closely tied to rising export revenue. The trade fair concept of pacprocess Tehran and IPAP went down very well and has created the pre-requisites for a positive development in these key industries.”

“The debut of pacprocess Tehran was a resounding success. I am confident that we can support even more interested companies in Iran with our expertise gained as part of the interpack alliance helping them to develop a high-potential market,” says Bernd Jablonowski, Global Portfolio Director at Messe Düsseldorf.

pacprocess Tehran, which forms part of the interpack alliance, was supported by several international associations including the Italian Machinery Manufacturers’ Association UCIMA, the cooperation partner for some  interpack alliance trade fairs and exhibitors in Tehran. “The first edition of pacprocess Tehran has laid the foundation for further successful trade fairs. The quality and quantity of visitors exceeded our expectations. The same also applies to the number of exhibitors and quality of organisation. The meeting with local enterprises confirmed the avid interest in technology made in Italy, which will therefore also be on show at pacprocess Tehran next year,” adds Gian Paolo Crasta, Marketing & Communication Manager, UCIMA. Italian exhibitors this year included such technology suppliers as the Cama Group and Pieri.

A special area called “iCarton” was realised in cooperation with the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) and the concurrently held IPAP Printing & Packaging Expo. It targeted producers of carton and corresponding packaging media. Acting as a local partner was the Iranian Cartons Packaging Manufacturer Association. Exhibitors included Hamkar Carton, Kalia Karton and Tabdil Machine, to name but three companies.

pacprocess was accompanied by a two-day innovationparc Forum programme, which was received well. The first day addressed themes related to the specificities of the Iranian market while the second day was all about the SAVE FOOD Initiative. VDMA’s Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association actively contributed to the programme with content. This offering was complemented by very well-attended “island talks” delivered by some exhibitors on specific technology themes.  

The involved associations not only gave good feedback on pacprocess Tehran but exhibitors also rated their participation as very positive – exhibitors such as Christian Scheck, Director of Sales and Marketing at Joma Kunststofftechnik: “We are very astonished about the positive feedback we received from interested parties. This was the first step into the Iranian market for us. We came without any big anticipations but return with high expectations. (…) If some of the things discussed here should materialise I am pretty confident that our company will be exhibiting again here next year.”

The Turkish company Fitpak was also favourably impressed. “Although this was a premiere we were very satisfied. We met the key players here that I had tried to contact in vain for a year or so. Here they came to our stand,” delights Yunus Berker Yetisi, Export Sales Representative, Fitpak. In addition to the good visitor response he also explicitly praised the pacprocess Tehran concept as an interpack alliance trade fair. Furthermore, he added, the exhibition centre had been a good choice. 

A well educated, relatively young population of over 80 million people increasingly calls for high-quality packaged products that it is not possible to produce to a competitive standard using local companies’ existing, technology. This puts great pressure on local producers to invest. This means big opportunities especially for European investors and partners as these are highly appreciated by Iranians.