After the peak on day two (see Plasteurope.com of 28.04.2016), it became a bit easier to make one's way through the halls at the fairgrounds at the Shanghai New International Expo Center on day three of “Chinaplas” (www.chinaplasonline.com). The total number of visitors at the plastics fair came to 38,757 on the second to last day before closing, bringing the total figure of attendees to 133,844 – and thus close to the previously targeted 140,000. The share of foreign visitors held relatively stable at about 26%.

“The fair has outdone our expectations,” a representative of injection moulding machinery producer Haitian International (Hong Kong / China; www.haitianinter.com) told Plasteurope.com. That sentiment was not limited to machinery producers alone. A spokesman for PLA producer NatureWorks (Minnetonka, Minnesota / USA; www.natureworksllc.com) reaffirmed Chinaplas’ role as a key networking event for the industry, saying, “Everyone comes here.” In fact, all of the exhibitors and visitors Plasteurope.com spoke to confirmed the importance of Chinaplas to their operations, even as preparations for the next big plastics event, “K" 2016 (www.k-online.de), are already in high gear.