K 2016 drew 230,000 in Düsseldorf, Germany

The K 2016 trade show – the world’s largest plastics trade event – has wrapped up in Düsseldorf, Germany, with a total of 230,000 visitors attending from over 160 countries, an increase of 12,000 visitors – or approximately 5.5 per cent – from the previous edition of the show in 2013.

According to show officials, some two-thirds of the attendees were from top or middle management, and almost 60 per cent described themselves as having final decision making authority or decisive involvement in their companies’ investment decisions.

The show also featured 3,285 exhibitors, up from the 3,220 exhibitors in 2013. Machinery and plant manufacturing occupied the largest exhibit area at K 2016, with over 1,900 exhibitors.

“Just the sheer number of experts visiting K 2016 impressively confirms the appeal and importance of the trade fair – since this number is once again clearly higher than at the previous event in 2013,” said Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, president & CEO of Messe Düsseldorf. “More importantly, however, the breakdown of trade visitors was of an exceedingly high standard. We can record a constantly good level of demand from Germany and a very high level of interest from abroad, especially from overseas.”

Some 70 per cent of attendees came from abroad, Dornscheidt continued, and more than 40 per cent were from overseas – including from as far-away as Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, the Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Oman, Madagascar, Mauritius, Surinam and Togo. “As expected, attendees from Asia accounted for the largest group among foreign guests, which increased again: nearly 30,000 came from South, East and Central Asia,” Dornscheidt said. “Visitors from India again made up the largest contingent but the number of attendees from China, South Korea and Iran also rose significantly.”

Approximately six per cent of the foreign visitors were from the U.S. and Canada; the U.S. was also well represented on the exhibitor side, with 119 American-based exhibitors.

With reference to visitors from neighbouring European countries, Italy dominated with over 10,000 visitors, followed by The Netherlands (some 9,500), France (some 6,700), Belgium (some 6,300), Spain and Poland (some 5,000 each). “There was a noticeable stronger participation from Turkey, Hungary and Greece,” Dornscheidt said.

K 2016 ran from October 19 to October 26 at the Messe Düsseldorf trade fair grounds. The next edition of the triennial show is scheduled for October 16 to October 23, 2019.