Welcoming 21,416 visitors, Labelexpo Asia 2013 achieved an increase of 18.8% over 2011’s show which attracted 18,019 attendees. Visitors came from 87 countries, up 11% from 74 countries in 2011. Covering 8,500sq/m of net space, with just under 300 exhibitors, the show was larger by 10% compared to its last edition, and also experienced its highest ever onsite level of space rebooking for 2015.

Many leading international and Asian companies exhibited at the show including: Avery Dennison, Epson, Gallus, Lintec (Suzhou) Tech Corporation, Omet, Nuova Gidue, UPM Raflatac, Xeikon, Zhe Jiang Wei Gang Machinery Co and Zhongtian Machinery Works, etc. There were more than 70 running machines being demonstrated. New products unveiled for the Asia Pacific region included Screen’s Truepress Jet L350UV digital label press, Avery Dennison’s TurnLock Laminating System and Brotech's new turret rewinder with automatic core take-off. Nuova GIDUE’s innovative M3 digital flexo press was a major attraction with packed demonstrations.

A two-day conference program ran alongside the exhibition and featured six well attended sessions. Topics included digital printing, beverage labelling and the importance of innovation. The opening keynote was delivered by Jukka-Pekka Haapanen, vice president Asia Pacific at UPM Raflatac, who gave an overview of the latest global trends and market forecast.

On the show, John Davy, show director of Labelexpo Asia commented: “This has been the perfect way to mark the show’s tenth anniversary with Labelexpo Asia 2013 being the biggest, busiest and best edition to date. We’ve had fantastic footfall with exhibitors reporting plentiful and strong sales leads while the exhibition floor and conference sessions have been packed for the duration of the event. We’ve also managed our highest ever rebook with 50% of space already confirmed for 2015 which is highly unusual for Asian exhibitions. This year’s success is a key indication that China’s economy is showing clear signs of recovery and is picking up pace. With so many market leading suppliers and manufacturers on board, there can be no doubt in the minds of the Chinese converting industry that this is the must-attend show for the label and package printing industry.”

Carrying forward its core theme on sustainability, Avery Dennison launched 16 innovations and new products. There were eight zones covering various categories, including durables, HPC, food and beer and beverage, wine and spirits, pharma and security, variable information, sustainability and digital.

Summer Chen, ITW Dynatec, said, “I feel that Labelexpo Asia 2013 was the perfect chance to introduce ourselves, to meet existing customers and to create new business opportunities in a growing industry where hot-melt is still seldom unheard of. We received more than 100 leads and we have several very positive enquiries from China, India, Taiwan, Malaysia etc.” David Ho of Martin Automatic agreed that the number of visitors from Asia met expectations of the exhibitors. “We are happy to see Labelexpo Asia is more and more successful. Beside the good amount of Chinese visitors, we saw many more visitors from Asia than before,” he said.

As a debut exhibitor at Labelexpo Asia, MPS stated that it was pleased with the number of show visitors to its stand. Erik Blomjous of MPS said, “High level of interest in the recently broadened range of MPS flexo and offset printing presses from the EB, EF and EXL series, available in print widths ranging from 280 to 660mm.” Along with its Chinese distributor Jebsen Industrial, MPS spoke with label printers about what press automation can do for their productivity and quality.

Massimo Bellingardi of Omet, added, “Omet believes in the potential of the Chinese market for its business. Investments have never ceased since we opened our office in Shanghai. We also opened a new technology centre exhibiting Omet machines 365 days a year and available for demos and testing.”