interplastica 2022 and upakovka 2022 exceed expectations

Positive mood in the exhibition halls +++ Personal encounters were once again the focus +++ At interplastica the focus was on lectures and discussions on recycling and the circular economy as well as additive manufacturing

After their four-day run as in-person events interplastica, International Trade Fair for Plastics and Rubber, and upakovka - Processing & Packaging have achieved extremely successful results. For the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, the trade fair duo took place live in Moscow. A total of 17,000 visitors came to the Central Exhibition Complex Expocentre from 25 to 28 to see the innovations of 650 exhibitors from 32 countries, to make or intensify contacts and to take part in the extensive lecture programme. The mood in the halls was good, and exhibitors praised in particular the high quality of the contacts.

"interplastica 2022 was a great trade fair. Germany, Italy, Austria and Switzerland were represented with official country pavilions, as was Russia with its key players," said a delighted Thomas R. Stenzel, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf Moscow. "Trade visitors at interplastica were finally able to exchange ideas with specialists in person again, discuss current issues in the industry and examine innovative solutions live," continues Stenzel.

Trade visitors from 63 countries, including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine, unanimously praised the diversity of the exhibitors, their professionalism and the high level of trade fair preparation. During the four days of the fair, the atmosphere in the exhibition halls was exceptionally busy and positive.

Suppliers from the fields of machinery and equipment for the production and processing of plastics and rubbers, raw and auxiliary materials, products made of polymers and rubbers, as well as services for the plastics and rubber industry presented themselves in Moscow. Many leading companies in the industry, such as Arburg, Atlasmash, Borche Machinery, Diflex, Engel, Erema, Fanuc, Formotronik, Haitian Russia, Kautex, Lukoil-RNP-Trading, PJSC Sibur Holding, Reifenhäuser, R&P Polyplastic, Resinex, Solan-D, Tomra Recycling were represented at interplastica 2022.

Kalojan Iliev, Managing Partner at Erema Russia, sums up: "Our expectations of the event due to the current Covid situation were exceeded. Our stand was very well attended, important decision-makers were on site."

The Italian industry association AMAPLAST also underlines the high professional competence of the visitors: "The quality of the contacts was excellent. The Italian companies are very satisfied with their participation and will definitely take part in interplastica again next year," says Eleonora Iula, Exhibition Department Project Manager.

Samuel Tevosyan, CEO Kautex Maschinenbau GmbH, Russia: "We had many interesting discussions and fully support interplastica. Russia is a very important market for us and interplastica is one of the most important platforms."

Sergey Zharov, General Director LLC, Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co.KG Maschinenfabrik: "The market and customers are noticeably active in Russia despite the Corona pandemic. We had successful days at interplastica. The visitors had concrete ideas and good new contacts were made."

Thorsten Kühmann, Managing Director of the Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association in the VDMA, states from the perspective of the German industry: "Exports of German plastics and rubber machinery to Russia already fell sharply in 2019 compared to previous years. After a strong upward trend in 2020, however, a downward trend set in again in 2021. This means that the Russian market has currently dropped out of the top 10 most important sales countries, but this huge market will retain an important position in the future. Russian plastics processors value the long-standing relations with German mechanical engineering and the promise of quality "Made in Germany". In addition, the machine builders are very well positioned in the topics of recycling and circular economy - which are also gaining enormously in importance in Russia - and can score points with their technologies against non-European competition."

The fact that Russia is planning to fundamentally modernise its infrastructure in the field of waste management in the next few years also brought a great response to the exhibition segment Recycling Solutions, in which exhibitors presented themselves specifically with solutions relating to recycling. Equally in demand was the Additive Minded segment, which was dedicated to applied science and additive technologies.

A highlight of interplastica was once again the Polymer Plaza. With top-class lectures and discussions on raw material production, application and processing, it provided valuable added value for trade fair visitors.  Here, too, the theme day on circular economy and recycling was particularly popular.

The next interplastica in Moscow will take place from 24 to 27 January 2023, again parallel to upakovka.

Exhibitor comments on interplastica 2022:

Anton Belkin, Business Development Specialist, 3M reports: "Most of the manufacturers of polyolefins and masterbatches for polyethylene and polypropylene on the market are our customers, so we couldn't miss the first show after a two-year break. I can say that everyone definitely missed the live communication. The interplastica 2022 was lively, interesting, great!"

Rajab Khidirov, Department Manager in the Logistics Department of Socar RUS, new exhibitor at interplastica from Azerbaijan: "This was our first interplastica. The event went very well for us, the number of visitors was quite high. I think we will be able to significantly increase the number of buyers of our products and our turnover through this fair."

Nikolay Priporov, CEO of Solan-D: "It is a very good place to present our novelties. We can discuss projects directly with customers here. Our customers can touch the equipment we offer here and, of course, discuss all perspectives. We are very satisfied with how this year's interplastica went."

Mikhail Lvovich Katzevman, Director of Science and Development at R&P Polyplastic: "interplastica is an opportunity to meet half the world in one day. You can't travel half the world in one day, even ZOOM and other digital ways are not a solution. That is why we consider interplastica a very efficient and relevant fair for the development of the plastics processing business in Russia."

Konstantin Petrov, Head of Machine Tools Robodrill and Robocut at Fanuc: "For us, interplastica is the most important event in the industry. We can win new customers and show our equipment. For example, an injection moulding machine that works together with a robot. There was a lot of interest from visitors, not only in injection moulding machines, but also, for example, in electric discharge machines, which we manufacture. Sometimes people come who are immediately ready to buy a certain machine, but basically, of course, a preliminary contract takes place at interplastica. In fact, such equipment is rarely sold just like that."

Nelly Redkina, Head of Marketing Interplast: "We specialise in creating efficient polymer production equipment for our customers. We support our customers' entire business, i.e. including project development and technical specifications. We have been participating in interplastica since 2017. When you meet a customer in person, you can quickly establish a communication channel with them and understand how useful you can be to them. When we are useful to the customer, their production brings a good return on investment - for us, this is the biggest reward."

Alexander Dokuchaev, Head of Borche Machinery's Representative Office: "Greetings to all visitors of interplastica! I am very happy that it took place. In fact, until the last moment we were afraid that there would be significantly fewer visitors or no fair at all because of the situation in Russia. But a large number of visitors came, many business discussions, everyone was really keen on live communication, they wanted to see our innovations. So we thank Messe Düsseldorf that the fair took place at all, that it was considered perfectly organised in terms of safety and hygiene."

Igor Potapov, director of Atlasmash: "At the fair we presented a three-stage granulator, an advanced thing in landfill recycling, because it has three cascades and, unlike single and two-stage extruders, it copes perfectly with dirty plastic, which is a concern for Russia. It is able to produce good, dense granules from bad plastic that is normally thrown away. This year we made twice as many catalogues for the exhibition - and they were all sold out on the second day! The interest is huge, the potential on the Russian market is huge, more and more new customers are interested.For everyone involved in plastics recycling, interplastica is the first address. That is why this is the most important place for us."

Andrey Seleznev, Commercial Director of Haitian: "Our company is a distributor of Haitian International for the use of injection moulding machines in Russia and the Republic of Belarus. As the market leader in Russia and worldwide, we are always obliged to participate in the most important trade fairs in the industry. At the beginning, we thought that the fair might not take place at all because of the pandemic in Moscow or that not many visitors would come, but interplastica proved us wrong.I even lost my voice during the day and a half, so there is work to do, and lots of it."

Vladimir Pivovarov, specialist of the polymer equipment department at Aleko: "Our company deals with the production of blow extrusion equipment. This year's fair was very important for us because it did not take place last year. The number of visitors did not meet our expectations, probably due to restrictions. But in general the days were quite effective for us - many contracts were signed, the equipment presented on site was completely sold. That means we are very satisfied overall."

Gleb Trofimov, Regional Sales Manager CIS Tomra: "Tomra is exhibiting at interplastica for the first time. In our good 10 years of active work on the Russian market, last year showed that the number of projects for recycling plastic polymers is growing at a rapid pace, so this year we decided to meet with all our partners and colleagues at interplastica - and I can definitely say that we did not regret it. We spoke at the conference, held several important meetings and met international partners with whom we work worldwide. It's very encouraging to see major international companies here at this show on a par with us, and that in Russia polymer processing is now truly world-class."

Yuldash Kazakov, head of the representative office of Starlinger & Gessellschaft m.b.H.: "We are an Austrian company specialising in the manufacture of equipment for bagging - the production of woven bags. Our second focus is on plants and technologies for polymer recycling. For our company, participation in the fair is very important, as all our existing customers visit this fair, as well as new customers. On the other hand, participation in interplastica gives all companies, not only ours, the opportunity to learn about the innovations and changes in this market, as well as in the market for equipment and technologies. After the pandemic, this is the first fair. We expected everything to be much smaller, but judging by the number of our negotiations, the fair went well."