UCIMA Promotes Italian Packaging Solutions in Mexico and Thailand

Efforts to promote the Italian packaging industry at major international trade fairs are continuing at a rapid pace as part of the intense 2019 program organized by UCIMA (Italian Packaging Machinery Manufacturers’ Association) with the financial and operational support of the Italian Trade Agency ITA.

Two major international events are scheduled for June.

• First one, June 11-13, is Expo Pack Guadalajara (Mexico), one of the top shows in Latin America devoted to processing and packaging technologies for the food & beverage, pharma, and cosmetics sectors. The Italian delegation of companies will take center stage with the participation of Agriflex, Camozzi, EcoPack, Easysnap, Ghezzi&Annoni, Imeta, IMS Technologies, MF Packaging, and Tropical Food Technology. A strategic market for the Italian packaging industry, Mexico ranked sixth amongst its export destinations in 2018 with total sales of EUR193.5m, 4.7% down on the record results of 2017. According to the forecasts published by the Ucima Research Department, the Mexican packaging machinery market has plenty of room for expansion in the three-year period 2019-2021, with an annual average growth of around 7.7% predicted.

• The second one is Propack Asia, the most important Asian exhibition of packaging technologies to be held in the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC), June 12-15. In the more than 1,000sqm Italian pavilion (Hall 103), Ucima has organized the participation of no fewer than 41 Italian sector companies: A Due, Acmi, Akomag, Arol, B.A. Processing, Bertoli Brand of Interpump Group, Binacchi, Cepi, CSF Inox, CFT Group, CT Pack, Emmeti, Finpac Italia, FPE, Frigel Firenze, Galdi, Ica, Levati Food Technology, Mariani, Matrix, Megadyne, Melegari Technology, MilkyLAB, Ocme, Pe-Labellers, Pelliconi, Penta, PFM, Raytec Vision, Reda, Ricciarelli, Robopac, Sacmi, Senzani Brevetti, Sipa, SMI Group, Tropical Food Machinery, Turatti, Unitech, Zacmi and Zilli & Bellini.

On June 12, Ucima will also be amongst the speakers at the Global Packaging Forum, an event organized by the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) in collaboration with UBM Asia. Experts from all over the world will discuss regional and global trends in the field of sustainable and biodegradable packaging with a special focus on the 2025 goals, analyzing specifically how the industrial system can contribute to reducing packaging and food waste. The conference will also discuss innovation, digital printing, robotics, and automation.

Thailand is a strategic gateway to Southeast Asia as a whole and in particular to the ASEAN region where Italy exported packaging machinery worth EUR253.3m in 2018, ahead of Germany for the second year running at EUR219.1m. According to Ucima Research Department figures, Thailand is Italy’s fourth largest market in the region with exports of EUR37.8m, 15% of the total. The top three are Indonesia with EUR74.8m, Vietnam with EUR56.7m and the Philippines with EUR43.4m.