Moving forward in the global market

CHINAPLAS is a well-attended exhibition being Asia's no. 1 trade event. Each year, the show never fails to gather thousands of exhibitors and visitors. This year's 29th edition takes place from May 20 to 23 at the China Import & Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou.

The trade exhibition has taken an important role in China's industrial transformation being the venue where advanced technologies and products are presented every year to local and international audience. The show is expected to occupy 230,000sqm exhibition area with 3,100 exhibitors.

The exhibition has seen tremendous growth and this has been further supported by existing government policies. The 12th Five-Year Plan of the Chinese government has identified the emerging industries of strategic importance such as hightech equipment and products for energy conservation and automation, new materials, high-end equipment manufacturing etc, and these received government support.

This also means stimulating growth and demand of upgrade equipment in the plastics and rubber industries. In 2014, the estimated annual production capacity of plastic product is around 68.69 million tonnes, with estimated annual sales amount of up to $348.8 billion. The growth rates are 9.5% and 16.5% respectively. In addition to tremendous demand for high-end technology, industrialisation, urbanisation, market-orientation and internationalisation have further strengthened China's role as the world's leading producer and consumer of plastic and rubber products.

Southern China has always been the hub for plastics and rubber industries. Up to the third quarter of 2013, the average export price of Guangdong's plastic product was $3,125 per tonne, about 20.6% increase compared with 2012. The surge reflects the rising trend in high value-added production. At the same time, packaging, electrical and home appliances industries in Southern China are famous of high degree of internationalization and economies of scale. In view of the optimistic progress of the industry, the demand for quality machinery and raw materials should not be underestimated.

New theme zones add value Chinaplas 2015 is going to exhibit the most ground-breaking plastics and rubber technologies, and will feature 14 country and region pavilions, including Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA. The exhibition originally featured 11 theme zones, namely Extrusion Machinery Zone, Injection Molding Machinery Zone, Chemicals & Raw Materials Zone, Auxiliary & Testing Equipment Zone, Die & Mould Zone, Film Technology Zone, Plastic Packaging & Blow Molding Machinery Zone, Rubber Machinery & Equipment Zone, Chinese Export Machinery & Materials Hall, Bioplastics Zone and Semi-finished Products Zone. But this year's edition adds four new high-tech theme zones in response to latest emerging demands of China market.

One highlight is on industrial automation which now has a new zone. As the Chinese government has rolled out a wide range of policies in support of the economic transformation and lends its support to the industrial robot industry since 2012, the direction is now towards the use of automated systems which is now gaining in China. A recent report published by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) indicated that China has become the world's largest consumer of industrial robots. While in the past, various automation technologies were scattered over different theme zones, a theme zone dedicated to automation will serve as a one-stop destination for visitors to learn about the latest automation technologies and view live demonstrations.
Another new zone features composites which in recent years have seen rapid developments. Many downstream industries have experienced revolutionary transformation using high performance, innovative materials. The Composite & High-performance Materials Zone will be officially debuted at Chinaplas 2015 for visitors to witness the latest achievements in this field. Two other zones - Color Pigment and Masterbatch Zone and Additives Zone were added as main theme zones rather than the sub-zones to provide more targeted and efficient exhibition platforms of related products and technologies to visitors.