February 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Contact:

Anne Meerboth-Maltz
Tel. (312)781-5185
Fax (312) 781-5188
email: ameerboth@mdna.com

Messe Düsseldorf North America
150 North Michigan Avenue
Suite 2920
Chicago, IL 60601

INTERPLASTICA 2010: POSITIVE TREND ON RUSSIAN MARKET

The fact that the Russian market is showing signs of improvement was evident at the recent staging of INTERPLASTICA 2010, 13th International Trade Fair Plastics and Rubber: a total of 500 exhibitors from 28 countries showcased their products and technologies to some 21,000 trade visitors from the CIS and neighboring countries at the Krasnaya Presnya Expocenter in Moscow (the visitor figure includes attendees at the concurrently held UPAKOVKA/UPAK ITALIA 2010 trade fair). INTERPLASTICA 2010 was jointly organized by Messe Düsseldorf and its Russian subsidiary OOO Messe Düsseldorf Moscow.

The optimistic attitude at the trade show was largely due to the positive response from the 21,000 visitors. The quality of the discussions was far better than anticipated by the exhibitors, who were very pleased with the number of specific enquiries and investment interest of the attendees. The Russian plastics industry experienced a significant order decrease as a result of the international financial and economic crisis in the past few months. INTERPLASTICA 2010 provided first signals for optimism in the industry.

“The market appears to have bottomed out now and seems to be gradually improving. Companies who worked on their medium and long term business development and customer relations during the difficult times are particularly benefitting from this and INTERPLASTICA offers the ideal platform,” stated Erhard Wienkamp, Member of the Management Board of Messe Düsseldorf.

Mechanical engineers, raw material producers, manufacturers of plastic and rubber products, logistics companies and service providers presented their most up-to-date products at the show. The leading exhibitor nations were Germany (135), Russia (129) and Italy (61). INTERPLASTICA 2010 also featured official country group exhibits from Austria, China, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Taiwan.

Russia and Eastern Europe remain the most important markets for German manufacturers of plastics and rubber machinery. According to the VDMA (German Engineering Federation), Germany exported about Euro 96.7 million worth of machinery for plastics and rubber to Russia in the first three quarters of 2009, a decrease of almost 50% compared to the results at the same time last year. Before the global economic crisis, sales in the region had seen years of steady growth. Bernd Nötel from the Association for Plastics and Rubber Machinery, a division of VDMA, confirmed that there are signs of a turnaround: “The positive prevailing mood at INTERPLASTICA – even amongst many first-time exhibitors – is very significant especially in the year when the world’s largest trade fair in the industry, K 2010, will be held. And it shows that the buyers in Russia are still very interested in investing in modern technology in order to be able to keep up with the competition. However, financing the planned investments remains a key issue.”

The Russian market is also very important for the Italian manufacturers, who are the second-largest supplier of machinery to this region. Alessio Fineo from the Italian Plastics and Rubber Machinery Manufacturers Association (Assocomaplast) confirmed the confidence expressed by his German colleagues – but somewhat more cautiously: “Although the number of Italian exhibitors has declined compared to last year, the companies represented here have reported excellent contacts and are very satisfied. Overall, the signs indicate that the market is recovering, but our customers’ industries are too diverse to draw any general conclusions. One sector with a somewhat crisis-resistant development is the medical products market.”

The next INTERPLASTICA is scheduled from January 25 - 28, 2011 in Moscow and will again be held concurrently with UPAKOVKA/UPAK ITALIA. For further information on visiting or exhibiting at INTERPLASTICA 2011 or UPAKOVKA/UPAK ITALIA 2011, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, 150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2920, Chicago, IL 60601. Telephone: (312) 781-5180; Fax: (312) 781-5188; E-mail: info@mdna.com; Visit our web site http:www.mdna.com; Subscribe to our blog at http://blog.mdna.com; Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/mdnachicago

Testimonials from INTERPLASTICA 2010 exhibitors

Kautex Maschinenbau GmbH,

Hubert Moritz, Sales Director

“We are very satisfied with the results of the trade fair so far. We have had more visitors than expected, but you still have to be willing to make compromises to attract customers when it comes to flexible finance options.”

Windmöller & Hölscher Vostok,

Vasilij Novoselov, General Director

“Our stand was crowded the entire time, which is a good sign, since it was much quieter last year. It’s hard to make predictions, but our customers are somewhat more optimistic than they were some time ago.”

AZO GmbH + Co. KG,

Wolfgang Schmitt, Head of the AZOPoly Division

“The enquiries from the visitors at our stand are becoming much more specific and we can see a slight improvement, which shows that our customers are now continuing projects that had been put on hold. The difficulties in financing them remain a problem for the time being though.”

Mikrosan,

Berkay Sönmez, International Trading Director

“After a very quiet first day we had a lot of visitors on the second day of the trade fair. The crisis seems to be having less of an impact on our customers now than it had some time ago and we are looking forward to a good year in 2010.”

Brückner Maschinenbau GmbH & Co KG,

Karl Zimmermann, Sales Director

“Our impression of the trade fair so far is very good. Although we aren’t completely out of the woods just yet, we are very confident that things will improve in the months ahead. There is certainly a positive trend and our customers are interested in new topics and projects again. What matters most, though, is that their problems with financing the projects will be solved in the future. It is also important, especially in Russia, to maintain a presence even in tough times and to stay in contact with customers. Only participating when the market is improving is the wrong strategy.”

For further information on visiting or exhibiting at INTERPLASTICA 2010, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, 150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2920, Chicago, IL 60601. Telephone: (312) 781-5180; Fax: (312) 781-5188; E-mail: info@mdna.com; Visit our web site http://www.mdna.com; Subscribe to our blog http://blog.mdna.com; Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/mdnachicago

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