Packaging's show-of-strength at the SinoCorrugated 2018

The recently concluded three-day SinoCorrugated South 2018 show at the GD Modern International Exhibition Center in Dongguan China saw more than 36,000 corrugated industry professionals, buyers and end-users attend the show.

16 Apr 2018 | By Noel D'Cunha & Priya Raju

The exhibition was spread across six halls in a total of 80,000 sqm area. The show saw 700 plus brands showcasing machinery and consumables catering to the corrugation folding carton and labels business.

This year, SinoCorrugated South 2018 saw five concurrently held shows namely, SinoFoldingCarton 2018, SinoFlexoGraphy South 2018, China Packaging Container Expo 2018 and China Label Industry Expo 2018.

Alex Wang, the general manager of converting project, at Reed Exhibitions Greater China, said, "The five-in-one mega expo hosted over 30 onsite activities, which included Corrugated World Forum, India Day, Trade Agents welcome dinner, Flexographic Printing Development Summit, among others. The show presented a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with industry peers and gain valuable business contacts."

The Asia's containerboard market holds nearly 52% of the global market share, with China being one of the leading players in the market. The projected annual growth rate of the containerboard industry is pegged at 7.6% in 2018, which according to the show organisers present immense potential for growth for other Asian markets.

Pradip Bosmaya of FCBM

The event saw a large number of delegates from industry associations of various countries. Pradip Bosmaya, the president of Federation of Corrugated Box Manufacturer (FCBM) who attended the show said, "The exhibition proved to be an excellent platform for the corrugation industry, and we got to see new technologies and developments at the show. It was great to see more than 400 delegates who travelled from India."

Bosmaya said, "India presents a great opportunity for everyone connected with corrugated packaging, all thanks to the growing economy and increased demand for packaged goods triggering growth for the corrugated industry. By 2021, we can expect that the kraft paper demands will be around 8.5 million tonnes."

CP Paul of APL Machinery

APL Machinery which represents Asahi Nantai in India was present at its stall which showcased die-cutting machines and flexo printer at the show. CP Paul, managing director, APL Machinery, said, "The show was a good platform for anyone dealing with or are connected with the Chinese equipment manufacturers and converting industries, although it was a bit smaller than the Shanghai edition."

"There were a wide-range of die-cutting machines and flexo printers displayed at the show, and all these were world-class products. Another interesting aspect was the impressive range of digital printing which will make a strong impact shortly," added Paul.

On the sidelines of the event, Global Packaging Media Alliance (GPMA) a professional media consortium consisting of international media partners within the printing and packaging industry was started by Reed Exhibition. GMPA was launched with the vision to ally the global media power for a better corrugating, printing and packaging world, and will help promote information exchanges and resources within related industry fields.

Wouter Sieben, business development manager for the corrugated segment, graphic solutions business, HP

According to Wouter Sieben, business development manager for the corrugated segment, graphic solutions business in Asia Pacific and Japan for HP, the corrugation packaging industry in China produces 51% of the global corrugated boxes. “While flexo is the main technology used to produce the boxes, digital printing has gathered steam in the last couple of years with 7% of the corrugated boxes now produced using digital printing.

HP has four wide-format presses installed in China. At the show, HP did not have any presses running, but showcased samples produced on the HP PageWide C500. “We recently installed the new industrial-scale HP PageWide C500 at Smurfit Kappa, and we hope to install a few in the Asia Pacific region including China and India,” said Sieben.

He added, “The C500, a water-based inks press makes possible printing of both primary and secondary food packaging without any additional barrier, meeting stringent food safety regulations.

Vishnuu R Kamat, vice president - sales, Advanced Graphic Systems

The SinoCorrugated for us was a first-time visit. The show was good for the corrugated industry as there were a lot of machines on live demo.

We were present at the show at our principal Aoke's stand for the sample cutting machine. We did have a lot of right visitors from the industry keen to know more about the sample cutting table (digital plotter). Although the number of expected visitors were not as expected by us, but all in all, it was a good show.

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