Philip Law reflects on the record-breaking attendance of Chinaplas 2024 and underlines the importance establishing strong relationships with China in the plastics sector.
BPF has just returned from a great showing at Chinaplas which took place on 23-26 April 2024 in Shanghai, China. It attracted a record-breaking 321,879 visitors and thereby becoming the first plastics show to ever attract over 300,000 visitors. The setting was the Shanghai National Exhibition & Conference Center, which are the largest trade show halls in the world (the second largest being the Shenzhen halls, where Chinaplas 2025 will take place).
It was the first time the show had taken place in Shanghai since 2018 (due to the pandemic) and the four-day show occupied all 15 halls and had a total exhibition area of over 380,000 sqm (a 12% increase since the last show in Shanghai). It featured 4,420 exhibitors whilst the last show in 2023 featured 3,900 exhibitors.
At the show, the BPF organised the British Pavilion, which was one of nine international pavilions at the exhibition. Our stand featured B&M Longworth, Biocote, Ceramix, Fraser Anti-Static Techniques, Hosokwa Micron, Meech International, MSA Engineering , Nextool and Rapidflame - many of them veteran exporters to China.
Alongside the exhibition, the BPF also ran a mission of eleven companies sponsored by TorFX. At the show, the BPF distributed its BPF UK Plastics Industry Directory listing not only the UK exhibitors and the mission delegates but all BPF members.
I spoke at a seminar organised by UK government’s DBT on the show’s first day, ‘Green Plastics: Mobilising the Industry Towards the Circular Economy’. In this, I highlighted the UK industry’s innovation capacity and the experience of BPF members. I also demonstrated how Chinese companies can access the UK industry through the BPF via the online Industry Directory, BPF events and publications. My belief is that China itself is best accessed through personal relationships which have developed year on year over a long period of time. BPF itself first exhibited at Chinaplas in 1983 and has been a consistent exhibitor since then. Over time, we have developed a strong relationship with Adsale, the organisers of Chinaplas, and this has certainly helped us to punch above our weight.
Although the Chinese domestic market is currently subdued, China continues to be both the world’s biggest producer and consumer of polymers. China's exports of raw materials are growing year on year and according to the China National Chemical Information Centre, the 'average annual export growth rate was as high as 72.8%, of which PP and PVC achieved record growth'. Around one-third of all polymers produced globally originate from China.
China is also the world's biggest producer of machinery for plastics processing. According to the China Plastics Machinery Industry Association, in 2023 China exported US$7.4bn of plastics machinery - an annual increase of 8%. Injection moulding machinery was the biggest percentage with US$1.7bn being exported - up 7% on the year before. In addition, the export of extruders, blow moulding machines and plastics calendaring machines were also recording record annual growth.
Ignore China at your peril!