A total of 184 exhibitors and 4,024 visitors from across the globe attended the Compounding World Expo and Plastics Recycling World Exhibition, which was held last month at Messe Essen in Germany.

Organised by AMI, the focused plastics industry expos boasted an international audience with 42 per cent of attendees coming from Germany, 50 per cent from the rest of Europe and 8 per cent from outside of Europe. Visitors came from as far afield as South Africa, Brazil, China and Korea, said a statement.

“We are absolutely delighted with the response to our first exhibitions, which were very well supported by the international plastics recycling and compounding industries,” said AMI’s head of exhibitions Rita Andrews.

“We’ve had extremely positive feedback about the Essen shows from exhibitors and visitors alike,” she said.

Exhibitors reported that they had large numbers of meetings with high-quality contacts on both days of the event. More than 60 per cent of exhibitors have already reserved space for the next European versions of the shows, which will return to Messe Essen on June 17-18, 2020, it said.

Many have also booked stands at the first US versions of the Compounding World and Plastics Recycling World Expos, which will take place in Cleveland, Ohio, US, on May 8-9, 2019.

Bernhard Gabauer, segment development manager – plastics, Bühler, said: “I have received more quality leads in one day of this event than a whole week at NPE.”

Dagmar Kirchof, central corporate communications and marketing, Leistritz, said: “The expo is very focused with everything key to the industry in one hall.”

The three conference theatres at the Essen shows attracted capacity crowds of up to 250 people each. They hosted a series of presentations covering a wide range of technologies and market opportunities, plus informative training seminars and business debates featuring industry leaders, it added.

Dr Oliver Frey, head of compounding department, Ensinger, said: “The expo has been really valuable as I've been able to reconnect with a number of industry peers and share our expertise.”

Andy Beevers, events director at AMI, said: “The focused nature of the expos worked very well for visitors from the plastics recycling and compounding sectors.”

“They could meet with key suppliers and participate in highly relevant conference sessions all under one roof. Similarly for exhibitors, the clear focus of the events meant they were meeting large numbers of visitors with a very specific interest in their products and services,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service