A plethora of industry events have been cancelled, postponed or gone on-line in a bid to keep the industry informed of new developments designed to keep businesses afloat going forward.
In the UK, Foodex, MACH and Drives & Controls have been postponed, while on the global stage, interpack will no longer be taking place in May, nor drupa in June.
Organisers have worked closely with the NEC to secure new dates; Food & Drink Expo, Farm Shop & Deli Show and National Convenience Show will now take place at the NEC 7 - 9 September 2020. There is not enough hall space to co-locate Foodex and The Ingredients Show on the same date, so these shows will move to 12 - 14 April 2021 to coincide with the 2021 running of these William Reed UK Food Shows.
The MTA has decided that to provide the best possible platform for both exhibitors and visitors, MACH will now take place between 25 - 28 January 2021. The event will still be held in the same Halls, at the NEC. “We are grateful to the NEC for working with us to identify an option which we believe will work for the vast majority of our exhibitors and will give our visitors a great chance to see the best of advanced manufacturing technology under one roof,” explained James Selka, CEO at the MTA.
This also means that the co-located Drives & Controls exhibition will also run on these dates.
Messe Düsseldorf has postponed the leading international trade fair interpack and it will now take place from 25 February to 3 March 2021.
interpack’s industry partners support the decision to postpone the fair and together with those responsible, are counting on a successful event next year. “interpack is the absolute top event for the international packaging industry and related processing industries and we are looking forward to next year’s event to discuss the issues that are defining the industry, such as sustainability, and to present appropriate solutions,” says managing director & Group president at Multivac Sepp Haggenmüller.
The VDMA, as a supporting association of interpack, welcomes a postponement under the given exceptional circumstances. “The new date now ensures reliability in planning,” says Richard Clemens, MD of the VDMA Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association.
Also postponed in Germany is the drupa trade fair scheduled for 16-26 June 2020; it will now run from 20-30 April 2021 while drinktec next year will now take place three weeks later from 4 - 8 October 2021, in Munich.
Some companies due to take part across all these exhibitions are running ‘virtual’ exhibitions on their websites to highlight the new products they were due to launch.
Source: PPMA
