Extrusion International 6-2022

28 Extrusion International 6/2022 K 2022 The joy of the plastics and rubber industry at finally being able to ex - change ideas in person on a global level again after three years charac- terised K 2022 Düsseldorf and en- sured an excellent mood among the 3,037 exhibitors. The companies re- ported extraordinarily good leads and a marked willingness to invest among trade visitors, mentioning promising new customer relations and the con- clusion of numerous, in part, sponta- neous business deals. “K in Düsseldorf has once again ful- filled highest expectations. It contin - ues to be the most international, com- plete and innovative trade fair of the global plastics and rubber industry,” says Erhard Wienkamp, Managing Di- rector at Messe Düsseldorf, delighting at the good results and adding: “The trade fair has impressively demon- strated just how valuable face-to-face networking, chance meetings and physical brand and product experi- ences are. We are very satisfied to see that K 2022 succeeded in sending out strong signals as an innovation driver of the industry and that our exhibi- tors did business with a high number of international customers with great decision-making powers.” 176,000 trade visitors from all conti- nents travelled to their most relevant sectoral event in Düsseldorf. At over 70% the proportion of international guests at K 2022 remained at a con- stantly high level. The verdict from Ulrich Reifenhäus- er, Chairman of the Exhibitor Advisory Board at K 2022, is also very positive: “After hardly any trade fairs could take place worldwide also on a na- tional level over the past three years, K 2022 was all the more eagerly an- ticipated as the world’s No. 1 trade fair of the plastics and rubber indus- try and succeeded in providing fresh impetus in all sectors of our industry. The many, in part, unexpected con- crete contract negotiations held at the trade fair speak for themselves!” The current unpredictability and uncertainty of events does make for a tight situation in the sector overall, but this did not do any harm to exhibi- tor commitment and visitor interest, quite on the opposite: “Especially now in turbulent times and where the plas- tics industry is undergoing transfor- mation towards the circular economy K 2022 was the ideal place to jointly and actively chart the course for the future,” sums up Ulrich Reifenhäuser. It was especially the wealth of new technology developments that raw materials producers, machine manu- facturers and plastics processors pre- sented for implementing the circular economy, resource conservation and climate protection that thrilled the trade visitors. Commenting on this Ulrich Reifenhäuser says: “It can be clearly felt that all companies have embraced the need to take on social responsibility and think about plastics in a sustainable way from the begin- ning of the process chain. The variety of solutions, machinery and products for transformation towards a circular economy presented at K 2022 was in- credible.” The trade visitors at this year’s K travelled from 157 nations to the Rhine. Next to Germany, those Euro- pean countries strongly represented on the visitors’ part included the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, France, Belgium, Poland and Spain. With 42% of visitors coming from overseas, the reach of K is as high as usual among the international trade audience. While visitors from the East Asian re- gion, in particular, were less well rep- K 2022 – Trade Fair Results Fulfil Highest Expectations (Photos: Messe Düsseldorf, Constanze Tillmann)