“It finally feels like a normal trade fair again!” – That was the consensus among exhibitors and visitors at this year’s FACHPACK, which has just closed following a successful three-day event. About 32,000 trade visitors, about one-third from outside Germany, took advantage of the opportunity to learn about the latest trends and innovations at the stands run by the 1,154 exhibitors, and to discuss pressing packaging issues with the experts. This year’s key theme, “Transition In Packaging”, captured the spirit of the times. “Even if the overall situation is not easy for many companies right now, the European packaging sector at FACHPACK proved extremely innovative and solution-oriented,” says Heike Slotta, Executive Director Exhibition at NürnbergMesse, summing up the event. The visitors to FACHPACK also found POWTECH, which was held in parallel, highly interesting: Almost a quarter of those attending said they were interested in the products and services at the Leading Trade Fair for Powder & Bulk Solids Processing and Analysis. FACHPACK will take its normal scheduled break in 2023 and will return again in 2024.  

“Trade fairs are melting pots for new ideas and make the future tangible,” says Slotta. “Of course, given the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, rising energy costs and inflation, the near future is going to be anything but rosy. But that is precisely why we need to talk about how we intend to shape the transition. To borrow the jargon of the consumer goods industry, the transition itself has become a fast-moving commodity since sustainability and digitalization have picked up speed, and consumer expectations and the overall situation are constantly changing.”

Visitors from about 90 countries

FACHPACK covered a comprehensive range of products from the entire packaging process chain, from packaging materials and machines to printing and processing, logistics systems and services. Visitors to FACHPACK travelled to Nuremberg from 89 countries, mainly in Europe. After Germany, the highest numbers of visitors came from Austria, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, France, Turkey and Slovenia. The international contingent this year grew to about 32 percent, compared to 29 percent in 2021.

Industry professionals: 85 percent decision-makers

The results of a visitor survey by an independent institute confirmed that more than 90 percent of the trade visitors were happy or very happy with the products and services in the exhibition halls. Eighty-five percent of the trade visitors said they were involved in making the purchasing and procurement decisions in their respective businesses. More than half had a management position. The visitors came mainly from the food and beverage, pharmaceutical and medical, cosmetics, chemical, electronics and automotive, retail, packaging and logistics industries.

German Packaging Award and Gold Awards presented

On the first day of FACHPACK, the German Packaging Institute (dvi) announced the winners of the Gold Awards for this year’s German Packaging Award. The six best innovations for 2022 came from the categories of Economic Efficiency, Sustainability, Digitalization, Packaging Machines and Young Talents. Also celebrated were 32 innovative solutions that were recognized with the German Packaging Award in August. For further information and photos, please go to: www.verpackungspreis.de

Increased revenues for packaging manufacturers

Packaging manufacturers saw an increase in production and revenue in 2021, as illustrated by the latest figures from the Gemeinschaftsausschuss Deutscher Verpackungshersteller (Joint Committee of German Packaging Producers, GADV). The bulk of production was represented by paper and cardboard packaging, while plastic packaging accounted for the highest production value.

About 19.6 million tonnes of packaging materials were manufactured in 2021, which equates to a 4.8 percent increase in production volume. Production value increased significantly, by 10.9 percent, to approximately EUR 35.8 billion in 2021. As in previous years, plastic packaging accounted for the largest share of production value at about 44 percent, while paper and cardboard represented the largest share by volume of packaging materials, at about 49 percent.

Strong export performance for packaging machines

The packaging machinery sector, which has a strong export focus, is also currently being slowed by adverse conditions and crises affecting production and the global economy. Based on the export volume achieved in the first half of the year, combined with a good order book, a small increase in production is still expected for 2022. According to the VDMA Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Division, the production volume for packaging machinery increased by 4.6 percent in 2021, to EUR 7 billion.

Exports by the approximately 300 manufacturers rose to EUR 5.922 billion in 2021 (previous year: EUR 5.673 billion), which is only slightly below the previous record volume achieved before the Covid-19 pandemic. The value of exports accounts for 84 percent of the production volume. The largest buyers of German packaging machines have traditionally been the EU countries, ahead of North America and Asia. In terms of buyer countries, the USA is well ahead of China, France and Poland. Global foreign trade in packaging machinery totals almost EUR 22 billion, with the highly innovative German industry having occupied the top position (currently about 26 percent) ahead of Italy for a number of years.

Save the date: FACHPACK will take its normal scheduled break in 2023 and will be held again at the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 24 to 26 September 2024.