A Convincing Indian Trade Fair Quartet

The interpack alliance package of trade fairs pacprocess India, indiapack and food pex India, along with the concurrent event drink technology India organised by Messe München, met with a very good response at its first event at the Mumbai location from 24 to 26 October 2018. This concept of presenting content-related trade fairs for the packaging sector and affiliated process industry (interpack alliance-Messen) and the theme of drinks technology for dairy and liquid food (drink technology India, Messe München) made for satisfied faces among the participating companies. After last year’s premiere at the alternate venue in New Delhi, exhibitor participation at the Mumbai location at the Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC) has once again seen a considerable rise with 343 companies from 16 countries on some 16,500 m2. Exhibitors included global players like Multivac, IMA, Ronchi, Clevertech, Cama, Makro Labelling, Bizerba, Constantia Flexibles and Huthamaki. Furthermore, the Italian industry made a strong appearance with the Italian Packaging Machinery Manufacturers’ Association UCIMA, the Italian Trade Agency as well as the joint stand “The Italian High-Tech Way”. Running concurrently with the trade fairs was a conference held at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel entitled “Future of Sustainable FMCG & Food Packaging” attended by international speakers.

“With its 1.3b inhabitants and an until now relatively low proportion of packaged foodstuffs and other goods India is a very interesting market for the sector. By offering the interpack alliance on the sub-continent we give companies an ideal platform to build their position on this market and benefit from future developments directly,” commented Bernd Jablonowski, Global Portfolio Director of Processing & Packaging at Messe Düsseldorf.

India is the third largest market worldwide for packaged foodstuffs with a turnover of 48 m tonnes in 2017. A growing middle class, rising incomes, progressing urbanisation and the continuing spread of modern trading structures like supermarkets are all driving demand for packaged foodstuffs, especially convenience products. British market research firm Euromonitor estimates that sales of packaged food here will rise by 61% to 76 m tonnes by 2022.

To satisfy the demand for processed and packaged foods companies have to develop their production capacities. This means demand for state-of-the-art process and packaging technologies will rise. Export-oriented manufacturers, in particular, favour high-tech solutions to meet international standards and be suitably competitive.

“German technology is in great demand in India – this is something that was highlighted again here in Mumbai this year. As ever, German companies are among the leading suppliers of automated processing and packaging technology in India,” commented Vera Fritsche, speaker at the Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA). Last year they exported machinery and equipment to India worth Euro 124 m.

High-tech equipment also came care of such Italian companies as Ronchi Mario S.p.A.. They presented the EXACTA/R 12/6 as an Indian premiere, their latest machine for applying lids to product packaging from the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, chemical and food industries. This machine serves as an example for the general trends in the industry: flexibility in application, quick format change and simple cleaning.

pacprocess India, indiapack and food pex India are held on an annual basis in combination with drink technology India care of Messe München. This combination of four trade fairs reflects under one roof themes like packaging and related processes (pacprocess India), packaging materials or packaging aids as well as machinery and technology for the production of packaging materials and packaging aids (indiapack), food and confectionery processing and packaging (food pex India) as well as drinks technology, dairy and liquid food together with the associated packaging industry (drink technology India) – a combination that is leading in the region. After New Delhi in 2017 and Mumbai this year the event will be held again in New Delhi next time. The trade fair quartet alternates between these two venues.