High expectations of K 2013 were exceeded

Dusseldorf | 24.10.2013/XNUMX/XNUMX

Companies in the plastics and rubber industry came to the world's most important trade fair, the K 2013, in Düsseldorf with high expectations.

The economic situation in the industry, which has been improving for months, and the certainty of the companies that they can present groundbreaking product innovations for all areas of the value chain, had awakened legitimate hopes for a good trade fair and a speedy follow-up business.

Companies in the plastics and rubber industry came to the world's most important trade fair, the K 2013, in Düsseldorf with high expectations. The economic situation in the industry, which has been picking up again for months, and the certainty of the companies that they can present groundbreaking product innovations for all areas of the value chain, had awakened legitimate hopes for a good trade fair and a speedy follow-up business. And during the eight days of the fair, expectations were exceeded. The exhibitors unanimously reported a large number of specific project inquiries, intensive negotiations with trade visitors from all over the world and a remarkable number of business deals, some of which were spontaneous, including several worth millions.

Ulrich Reifenhäuser, Chairman of the Exhibitors' Advisory Board at K 2013, draws an extremely positive balance: "We didn't expect the willingness of visitors to invest in such strength! The many innovative products and applications that celebrated their premiere in Düsseldorf attracted the greatest attention from the specialist audience. And the innovations were not only admired, many concrete negotiations have already been conducted and contracts signed. Many customers are expanding their capacities and investing in new technologies in order to hold their ground in global competition. We are very confident for a strong follow-on business and expect further growth for our industry”.

This assessment runs through all areas of the fair and was shared equally by the more than 3.200 exhibiting raw material producers, processors and machine builders. The exhibitors particularly emphasized the further increase in internationality and the high professional competence of the visitors as well as the fact that an above-average number of top managers traveled to Düsseldorf.

The approximately 218.000 trade visitors at K 2013 came from well over 120 countries. Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, CEO of Messe Düsseldorf, and his team are delighted with the excellent response: “Once again, it was very clear: K is and will remain the most important event for the plastics and rubber industry! Completely new technologies and materials have their premiere here, as do sophisticated further developments, and this is where these innovations are ordered. The willingness to invest was particularly high among the international guests at K 2013, every second visitor came to Düsseldorf with specific purchase intentions. Even if the size of the delegations of the individual customer companies decreases slightly,

222,486 visitors and 3,094 exhibitors took part in the previous event in 2010.

The results of the visitor survey confirm the exhibitors' assessment that the internationality of the guests has increased again: 58 percent and thus around 126.000 experts were of foreign origin. Almost half of all foreign visitors came from overseas – they even came to Düsseldorf from Angola, Burkina Faso, the Falkland Islands, Yemen, Malawi, Nepal, New Caledonia, Oman, Peru and Turkmenistan. As expected, the proportion of trade visitors from Asia represented the largest group of foreign visitors - around 30.000 trade visitors came to the Rhine from South, East and Central Asia as well as from the Near and Middle East. The guests from India were again the largest group; the proportion of trade visitors from China, Indonesia, Iran, Japan and Taiwan has increased significantly.

The number of visitors from North America also increased significantly: around 8.100 participants were registered from the USA and Canada, around 1.300 more than at K 2010. Around 11.000 specialists came from Latin America, around three years ago. The largest contingents came from the experts from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia.

The increase in visitors from South Africa is also pleasing with around 2.000 guests from South Africa.

Among the guests from neighboring European countries, the Netherlands dominated with 8.000 visitors, followed by France, Belgium, Great Britain and Italy. Interest from Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary has increased noticeably.

The proportion of managers among the trade visitors was above average across all national borders: Around two thirds belong to upper and middle management. Well over half have a significant or decisive influence on investments in their companies. The high proportion of visitors from research, development and design is also remarkable.

Solutions for resource conservation and energy efficiency dominated many product launches, the endeavor to produce in an environmentally friendly and at the same time cost-effective manner characterizes the industry. Mechanical and plant engineering, the largest exhibition area at K 1.900 with around 2013 exhibitors, was also the focus of visitor interest: almost two thirds of all guests surveyed stated that they wanted to find out about the innovations in this industry. For 42 percent of the trade visitors, the presentations by the manufacturers of raw materials and auxiliary materials were of particular interest, while 22 percent were primarily concerned with semi-finished products and technical parts made of plastic and rubber (multiple answers possible). The visitors came from all important user sectors - from the construction industry to vehicle construction to packaging, electrical engineering and medical technology to agriculture. All in all, visitors to K 2013 awarded top marks for the offerings in the 19 exhibition halls: 96 percent stated that they had fully achieved the objectives of their visit.

Special show "Plastics in motion"

The special show at K 2013 entitled “Moving Plastics” also met with great interest among experts from all over the world. Here it became clear what contribution plastics make to “life in motion”. It was about the direct contributions of plastics to the various facets of mobility, but also about emotional movement, for example through art and design. Future-oriented questions on the major issues of population growth, energy demand and climate change were also addressed. At the opening of the stand on October 16, former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer spoke about sustainability.

The next K Düsseldorf will take place from October 19th to 26th, 2016.