Confirming the good moment of the Spanish packaging industry, Hispack returns stronger than ever, with more companies and sector support for the presentation of the latest innovations in the packaging, process, and logistics market, and for reaffirming the strategic role of packaging for digitally transforming the industry, and invigorating all types of sectors. Between 8 and 11 May, Hispack will bring together more than 750 direct exhibitors, representing more than 1,400 companies, in nearly 39,000m2 net surface area, representing a growth of 20% in the number of stands and 12% in used surface area in comparison to 2015.
With the most representative offer of the moment and the presence of leading brands, Hispack will exhibit different packaging solutions in Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue, taking into account their entire life cycles and interconnections with other productive processes, and with the supply chain. Sustainability, improvement of the usage experience of packages, automation towards the 4.0 industry, and packaging logistics will be the major subjects of this edition.
The cross-sectional characteristic of packaging transforms Hispack into a fair of interest to manufacturers and distributors of food, beverages, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, perfumes or medicine, capital goods, among others, for the industrial and consumption sectors, as well as for large and retail distribution. The organization hopes to exceed the 38,000 visitors of the previous edition celebrated in 2015.
Hispack will once again coincide in terms of date and venue with FoodTech Barcelona, which will exhibit all the manufacturing aspects of food, and with the Livestock Forum, the technological event applied to livestock. Therefore, at this trade fair occasion, food industry professionals will be able to find solutions that range from ingredients to production processes, packaging, and delivery to the point of sale.
Broad representativeness
Hispack's commercial offer covers the entire life cycle of packaging, from its design all the way to its recycling. The sectors connected to machinery and accessories for the manufacturing of containers and packaging, process equipment, bottling, or coding and marking will represent more than half the exhibitors at the fair. For their part, raw material companies and materials represent 30% of the stands.
Hispack's wager is to increase the presence of logistics companies, translating into a 16% increase of exhibitors in this specialization. The creation of a sector dedicated to automation and digitalisation, in which more than 40 companies participate, is also worthy of mention.
There is also evidence of growth in the Premiumpack area, dedicated to providers of materials, finishes, and packaging for high-end products such as gourmet foods, beverages, cosmetics, and perfumes. Companies in POS display, engineering, consulting and services, associations and entities, as well as recovery and recycling firms round out the trade fair's commercial offer.
Hispack Director, Xavier Pascual, highlights "the participation in the fair of nearly 70% of the leading companies in the manufacture of specialities as diverse as corrugated cardboard, the manufacturers of packages and packaging, consumables, and end of the line accessories or equipment".
Exhibitors from 24 countries
This year, Hispack increases the presence of international exhibitors by 18%, confirming the attractiveness of the new Spanish packaging market and the trust in Hispack's convening power in exterior markets, mainly from Europe (with Portugal in the lead), Latin America, and Mediterranean countries. After Spain, the country that currently contributes the most companies to the list of exhibitors is Turkey, followed by Italy, Germany, France, China, the Netherlands, and Portugal. This year, the hall incorporates companies from Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Greece, Czech Republic, Iran, and Sweden. A quarter of all 2018 Hispack direct exhibitors come from abroad.
Buyers programs
Together with FoodTech Barcelona, Hispack has directly selected and invited to the fair more than 70 purchasers from 12 countries with concrete investment projects for participating in meetings with exhibitors whose offers meet their requirements. Through this program, professionals from Australia, Chile, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Costa Rica, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, South Africa, Tunisia, and Turkey will attend, and more than a thousand business interviews with the exhibitors are expected to be scheduled.
At the same time, several delegations from Algeria, Chile, Morocco, Peru, Tunisia, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, and Turkey, contributing nearly 400 purchasers, will attend through AMEC. Reverse commercial missions are being organized with some 30 companies from Argentina, Iran, India, Indonesia, and Thailand. For its part, Fira de Barcelona has promoted the visit of an institutional and company representation from Cuba.
Hispack also has a program of national buyers through which more than twenty end-product manufacturers will be directly invited to participate in short-term investment projects, which may hold scheduled meetings with exhibitors.
Hispack challenges
Four large areas will be built under the name Hispack challenges in the middle of the exhibition area. This is where the main educational activities, according to the four major challenges defined for this year (sustainability, automation, packaging logistics, and usage experience) will be held. Each of these areas will have a specific program of conferences and round tables where top level speakers will participate and where success stories will be explained. Areas for networking, complemented with spaces for the exhibition of innovative products and packaging projects, will also be available, together with workshops, demonstrations, and guided tours.
Hispack will include the contributions of the Graphispag hall in the area dedicated to usage experience, showing the multiple possibilities that printing offers packaging in order to make it more attractive, personalized, functional, and smart. Hispack will also have a Packaging & Shopper Marketing Zone conference space, sponsored by the Graphispack Asociación, where the role of packaging as a marketing and sales element, as well as its relation to retail and the influence of graphic technology in the production of packages, packaging, and labels, will be analysed.
Hispack's educational program will be complemented with other technical sessions and conferences organized by professional associations, bodies, and publications. In addition, the 2017 Líderpack Awards, the most important packaging and PLV awards of Spain, will take place within the framework of Hispack.
Barcelona, March 2018
