The positive market trend clearly felt in the immediate run-up to the world’s biggest trade fairs for the plastics and rubber industries also characterised the course of K 2010 Düsseldorf and made for an excellent mood amongst the 3,102 exhibitors. Companies reported an overwhelming volume of contacts, a marked willingness amongst trade visitors to invest, promising new customer contacts and many, also sometimes quite spontaneous, business deals. The verdict from Ulrich Reifenhäuser, Chairman of the Exhibitor Council for K 2010, is therefore correspondingly positive: “K 2010 was held at the right point in time and has provided all areas of our industry with new impetus. The many and sometimes quite unexpectedly specific contract negotiations entered into at the trade fair speak for themselves!”
Delighted by the good results Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, CEO & President of Messe Düsseldorf, said: “Registering 222,000 trade visitors K 2010 has clearly exceeded expectations in the sector given the crisis now finally drawing to an end! We are very satisfied that the trade fair succeeded in providing strong impetus for further growth and that our exhibitors were able to do business with numerous international customers of high decision-making competence.”
Compared to the previous event in 2007 visitor attendance was down by eight percent. But then the industry was in a boom phase, which came to a sudden end soon after as a result of the global economic and financial crisis.
It was especially the wealth of new technical developments presented by raw material producers, machinery manufacturers and producers of technical components that enthused the trade visitors. Commenting on this Ulrich Reifenhäuser said: “It can be clearly felt that an investment backlog formed during the global economic and financial crisis. Now demand is rising on a global scale and we register overwhelming customer interest in our buyer sectors. The innovations launched at K 2010 are stimulating a powerful thrust in orders taken. Companies are now benefiting from also having consolidated their strengths in hard times, developing innovations and decisively strengthening their competitive edge!”
57% of K visitors came from outside Germany; a total of some 132,000 guests were of foreign origin. The experts came from far more than 100 nations and all continents – they even travelled to the Rhine from Ethiopia, Costa Rica, the Falkland Islands, the Ivory Coast, Mauritius, New Caledonia and Turkmenistan. It became clear that amongst the international experts attending a further shift towards overseas visitors has taken place. At K 2007 57% of all foreign guests still came from Europe; this year this percentage was down to 55%. This means the proportion of experts from overseas rose to 45% of all international guests. The biggest group here came from Asia – with approximately 30,000 experts. With 10,500 guests the Indian subcontinent again accounted for the largest share of Asian visitors. A substantial increase was also registered in the number of trade visitors from Turkey and from Israel with 4,100 and 3,700 business people, respectively (compared to 2,900 and 2,300 at the previous event). Compared to K 2007 there were also more visitors from Egypt, Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Approx. 10,000 business people came from all over Latin America to K2010, to the tune of 7,600 trade visitors came from the USA and Canada. The number of visitors from the African continent was slightly up also standing at approx. 7,600 guests.
Visitors from neighbouring European countries were dominated by the Netherlands with just under 8,000 visitors, followed by France (7,600), Belgium (6,300), Italy (6,200), Austria (4,800), the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland (4,100), Switzerland (3,900), Spain (2,900), Portugal (2,300) and Poland (2,200).
For roughly two thirds of all the visitors polled machinery and equipment building ranked first in terms of interest in ranges. 48% – and hence 7% more visitors than at K 2007 – stated their interest in raw materials and auxiliaries while for 26% semi-finished products and technical plastics and rubber components were the major reason for their attendance (multiple choices possible). 62% of all visitors represent top and middle management but the percentage of visitors with a say in the purchasing and sourcing decisions of their companies was even higher: by own accounts 60% of all visitors are involved in a decisive or co-decisive capacity, 19% are involved in an advisory function.
The high decision-making competence of trade visitors was also explicitly mentioned by the exhibitors: 94% passed a positive verdict on the technical competence of the guests at their trade fair stand. And K 2010, in turn, got full marks from the latter for the ranges on display in the 19 exhibition halls. 97% of all trade visitors praised the event saying they fully achieved the aims of their visit.
The in-depth dialogues between suppliers and potential buyers as well as quite a few concluded deals made for noticeable satisfaction amongst exhibitors who are looking to the future with optimism. Three quarters of all companies stated that they had already signed contracts during K2010 and/or definitely expected follow-up business. Positive impetus for their follow-up business is expected by 92% of exhibitors.
Plastics can look forward to a bright future as a material for creative ideas, particularly in the field of energy efficiency and saving resources. This insight was not only reflected by numerous examples on show at the exhibitors’ stands from 56 nations. The Special Show “Visions in Polymers” also picked up on this theme meeting with great interest among experts from throughout the world. Film sequences, selected exhibits and discussions with experts from industry and science highlighted the development trends on the horizon and the novel applications the future can bring. The German plastics industry was responsible for the organisation of “Visions in Polymers” under the aegis of PlasticsEurope Deutschland e.V. and Messe Düsseldorf.
The next K Düsseldorf will be held from 16 to 23 October 2013.
Contact:
Press Office K 2010
Eva Rugenstein/Desislava Angelova
Tel.: +49-211-4560 240/Fax.: +49-211-4560 8548
E-mail: RugensteinE@messe-duesseldorf.de
E-mail: AngelovaD@messe-duesseldorf.de
