The recent staging of swop 2017 (Shanghai World of Packaging), the leading processing and packaging exhibition in Asia, attracted 600 international and domestic exhibitors and 20,053 visitors. The visitors traveled from nearly 80 countries and regions including China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, the U.S. and Vietnam to the SNIEC fairgrounds to see latest innovations for this sector. The four-day exhibition was jointly organized by Messe Düsseldorf (Shanghai) Co., Ltd (MDS) and Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd.

“With the fast pace of urbanization and the rising consumption level of the middle class, the demand for modern processing and packaging in China is also on the rise. swop, with its four exhibitions and innovative themes, is the one-stop platform for the most advanced technologies and ideas,” commented Hans Werner Reinhard, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf.

“As one of the new member trade fairs of the interpack alliance based on interpack, the world’s leading trade fair for processing and packaging, swop has undoubtedly gained more exposure in the global market and attracted more top industry experts to China,” added Bernd Jablonowski, Global Portfolio Director Processing and Packaging at Messe Düsseldorf.

Stanley Chu, Chairman of Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd., said: “This year, swop continues to feature the entire value chain of packaging - from packaging materials production and processing, primary and secondary packaging and logistics/e-commerce packaging to packaging materials and containers - all in one event. In addition, swop serves eight industries: food, beverage, bakery, confectionery, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, non-food consumer goods and industrial commodities. This makes swop the first one-stop sourcing platform covering the entire value chain.”

In order to help the exhibitors find high-quality potential buyers, buyers groups, consisting of nearly 100 industry associations and enterprises as well as a “business pairing” program were organized.

Exhibitors at swop 2017 addressed trend topics such as Industry 4.0, intelligent packaging manufacturing/ software and sustainability. Many companies demonstrated their efforts to reduce thickness of packaging materials, lower resource consumption and improved manufacturing processes.

Six years after its introduction, the SAVE FOOD initiative by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and Messe Düsseldorf (organizer of the interpack trade fair), has grown into a broad-based international coalition with more than 850 international members covering relevant industries, associations, non-governmental organizations and research institutions. SAVE FOOD premiered as a special theme at swop 2017, along with an international summit on the second day of the show. Vincent Martin, the China and North Korean representative from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, talked about “Reducing global food waste through innovation and partnership.” Numerous exhibitors also picked up on this topic. Multivac exhibited its “MultiFresh” skin packaging which affixes film on the surface of the product as tightly as a layer of skin, keeping the original product’s shape intact which is especially suitable for packaging fresh meat. TOMRA Sorting showed how to significantly reduce food loss, save costs and improve profitability through fast and energy-efficient sorting technology.

The FMCG Future Zone was a popular feature at swop 2017, highlighting packaging materials and products presented by more than 200 overseas and domestic exhibitors on 107,600 square feet of exhibit space. They demonstrated the trend towards high barrier, lightweight, tamper resistance, environmental protection and customization in packaging.

The swop 2017 exhibits were complemented by multi-faceted forums, covering topics such as food processing, smart packaging, green packaging, packaging design & innovation, e-commerce and logistic packaging. The SAVE FOOD summit meeting attracted nearly 200 visitors from the food industry interested in how to extend food shelf life through innovative packaging. In addition, the Global Aluminum Foil Roller Initiative, representing more than 50% of global foil production, met during swop 2017.

The next staging of swop will be from November 25–28, 2019 in Shanghai. For further information, visit www.swop-online.com.