Following a serious slump, the Russian economy is gradually picking up again. The production volume of the manufacturing sector saw a year-on-year increase of over 14% in the first half of 2010, with especially strong growth in the chemicals, rubber and plastics industry. This is good news for the exhibitors at Interplastica 2011, the international trade fair for the plastics and rubber industry, with their confidence reflected in the number of registrations to date. With vendors from about 30 countries, the fair, which will take place at the Moscow exhibition centre Krasnaja Presnja from 25 - 28 January 2011, will once again present a representative cross section of the range on offer, encompassing the areas of machinery and equipment for the plastics and rubber industry, processing and recycling machines, tools and peripherals, measurement, control and testing equipment, raw materials and auxiliary materials, rubber and plastic products, logistics, storage technology and services.
Due to the common theme, 2011 will once again see Interplastica and Upakovka/Upak Italia, the international trade fair for packaging machinery, packaging production and packaging material, take place in parallel. In total, the two events are expected to feature about 800 exhibitors, with the exhibition growing slightly in size, to cover approximately 15,000 square metres of exhibition space in total. Interplastica and Upakovka/Upak Italia are organised by Messe Düsseldorf GmbH and its Russian subsidiary OOO Messe Düsseldorf Moscow.
Although most Russian companies are still cautious when it comes to predicting how business will develop in future, they are planning investments and gradually modernising and increasing capacity. Some sectors of the plastics industry, such as the market for plastic film, are already experiencing strong growth, with new production facilities being built, which are expected to increasingly displace imports. There is enormous potential, as the consumption per capita of plastic film is still much lower in Russia than in the USA or Western Europe. This, in turn, means good business prospects for plastic film machine vendors, especially given that there is still great interest in innovative technology.
The largest contingent of exhibitors at Interplastica will once again be made up of Russian, German and Italian companies, although Austria, France, Portugal, China and Taiwan will also have a strong presence. The number of exhibitors from Russia and China will increase particularly markedly, in comparison to last year.
This January, Interplastica and Upakovka/Upak Italia attracted some 21,000 trade visitors from Russia and its neighbouring countries. In spite of a harsh economic climate, the exhibitors were happy with the overall outcome of the fair and, in the light of the enquiries they received and planned investments, were optimistic for the future.
