The results of the trade fair UPAKEXPO 2024

January 23 — 26 the Expocentre Fairgrounds hosted the largest international trade fairs for packaging, printing and filling technologies UPAKEXPO, for plastics and rubbers RUPLASTICA, for waste management and recycling RECYCLING SOLUTIONS, as well as a specialized project for 3D-printing technologies in production ADDITIVE MINDED. 30.000 specialists visited the venue in search of new partnerships, contacts, knowledge, product and tech solutions, the projects’ activities covered more than 1.100 companies from 20 countries, including Russia, Turkey, Iran, China, India, UAE, Kazakhstan, and Brazil.

Kirill Piskarev, Director, Trade Fair Projects:

"This year the results of the trade fair season exceeded our expectations. The general exposition doubled in size, so did the attendance rate. The projects again proved to be relevant and necessary for development of the industries. They naturally complimented and mutually strengthened each other, bringing together specialists from related sectors on the all-in-one business platform. We witnessed a unique solidarity of professionals from the market searching for solutions for common tasks, challenges, experience and knowledge sharing."

UPAKEXPO trade fair was placed in three halls of the Expocentre Fairgrounds, and traditionally became a meeting point for representatives of the packaging sector and a platform for sharing new solutions, technologies and opinions. The venue offered the visitors customized, integrated, and turnkey solutions in production of packaging for various types of food and non-food products.

In recent years the visitors are especially interested in companies from printing on packaging and printing on label segment. This segment was represented by such players as Terem, Russcom, Smart-T, Terra Print Pro, VIP-Systems, SUZHOU CAI MACHINE GROUP, etc. Among the regular participants, making up the core of UPAKEXPO were ECI PACKAGING, Russkaya Trapeza, Robotec, Integral Plus, AURORA Factory, Forintek, TD Kraft, Kropotkinsky Zavod MiSSP, TECSA, NELDEN INDUSTRY S.R.L., SACMI MOSCOW, SMI RUSSIA, etc. The bright new participants of the trade fair were Aseptic Solutions, TARA.RU, Hangzhou Huayi Trading Co., Ltd, Guangzhou Sunny Industrial, Kombi Makina, Enterpack, Autonics Rus, Plastagregat, DOMEKS MAKINE ANONIM SIRKETI, and some others.

Victor Vassiliev, Head of Marketing and Advertising, Corporation ZNAK:

"Participating in UPAKEXPO allowed us not only to show the market our advanced and in-demand solutions for labelling, but also to improve the quality of consultations on technologies for our new and future clients. Within four days we showed and discussed practical aspects of integration of equipment and solutions for production sites with specialists from manufacturing facilities of various segments, as well as invited producers of household chemicals and cosmetics to participate in an experiment on labelling. This is undoubtedly the best result our participation in the trade fair has brought us."

This year a very rich business programme was arranged within the Innovation Pack. The representatives of sectoral associations and the leading players of the market shared exclusive information on the specificity of operations and the novelties in the changing market, tech innovations and trends. The conferences at the venue offered contributions from experts representing relevant companies and governmental bodies, among those are Aurora, Sibur, Unilever, GOTEK, EcoLine-VtorPlast, NTech, and many more.

Alexander Boyko, CEO, NCPack, Chair of the Subcommittee for Development of Packaging and Printing Industry, CCI RF:

"Last year started immense changes in the packaging industry. The Russian market has grown quite strongly, both financially and numerically. Many companies achieved significant growth. But the key thing is that the industry has changed dramatically from the technological standpoint and in terms of how to run the business. The trends set in 2023 will continue evolving in 2024. This will lead to more confidence among Russian manufacturers of packaging, and the consumers will have the packaging that is fully in line with the expectations — it’ll be convenient, practical, eco-friendly, beautiful and modern. UPAKEXPO trade fair surprises us with how big it is versus previous year — in the number of participants, and the quality of presentations, and the activity of the audience. We can certainly say that it will become a good stimulus for further development of the packaging market."

The themes of the conferences on the first day of Innovation Pack were: the current status of the packaging industry, changes and adaptation of the Russian market to sanctions, production in new circumstances, legislative initiatives and regulatory control. The key participants were Georg Polymer, SFT Packaging Center, Future Packaging Recycling Solutions, Homa Company, Danaflex, etc.

One of the most important themes of the conferences became the eco-agenda. New legislative initiatives raise the issue of packaging disposal, and attract more attention among the manufacturers towards eco-friendly materials, technologies and recycling. The speakers focused on the issue of waste disposal, biodegradable materials, environmental requirements and trends. The speakers also discussed how to find new solutions for production and recycling of packaging, brands design and positioning, how the growing trend for eco-friendliness impacts the consumer demand.

Igor Smirenny, Editor-in-Chief, Tare and Packaging; Vice President, NCPack:

"It is amazing to see how UPAKEXPO trade fair grows every year, bringing even more professionals of the packaging industry together. At this event we’re sharing experience, technologies and solutions, that in many aspects define the development of the domestic industry for years to come."

Trade fair projects UPAKEXPO, RUPLASTICA, RECYCLING SOLUTIONS and ADDITIVE MINDED in 2024 have brought together specialists from several related sectors, where players demonstrated professionalism, consistency, quality, innovative and adaptive solutions for the new times. This proved it once again that such industrial tandem opens opportunities for new rounds of development in packaging, polymer, and processing industries.

Russian trade fair company EXPO FUSION will hold a new season of UPAKEXPO, RUPLASTICA, RECYCLING SOLUTIONS and ADDITIVE MINDED projects January 21 — 24, 2025 at the Expocentre Fairgrounds.