Labelexpo Asia 2011 Reaches New Heights

Labelexpo Asia 2011, which was held between 29 November and 2 December in Shanghai, has proved to be the most successful year in the show’s history. The show exceeded all previous statistics in attendee and exhibitor numbers and many senior executives visited, confirming the importance of the event and the market in Asia.

In total, 18,019 top level visitors attended this year’s show—an increase of nine percent over 2009’s show. Labelexpo Asia also boasted 270 exhibitors (up by 21 percent on 2009) and attracted the highest level of space rebooking for 2013 as exhibitors enjoyed high levels of onsite sales of machinery and materials.

Again proving to be a major vehicle for new product launches, the Labelexpo Asia showfloor was packed with new press demonstrations. New launches included Omet’s Flexy 330 press, Xeikon’s high capacity and speed 3300 digital label press and UPM Raflatac’s PP White TC 60 RH 9 ProLiner PP30. HP and Kama also showed for the first time the digital printing and converting of cartons.

The continent’s largest dedicated show also reported a huge increase in demand for delegate places at its conference program. With speakers including Jouko Lähepelto, senior vice president, Americas and Asia Pacific at UPM Raflatac and Dean Scarborough, chairman of Avery Dennison Corporation, who gave a ground-breaking interactive presentation. Sessions were packed as key industry trends were examined, technologies debated and best practice customer case studies shared.

Roger Pellow, Labelexpo managing director comments: “We would like to thank everyone involved with Labelexpo Asia for their support and contribution in making 2011’s show the greatest yet. Not only has the show matured, it has grown to a new level where it is attracting top level executives and decision makers to do business on site; underlining its value as the leading platform to do business, network and see the latest technology.

“Interestingly this year, we are seeing Chinese manufacturers increasingly look at opportunities outside of the domestic Chinese market as we’ve taken exhibitor bookings for our other major international shows. In addition, the environment and digital printing technology is of growing interest on their business agenda. The marketplace is becoming ever more competitive and the Asian label industry is sure to challenge the market share dominance of Western Europe and Northern America sooner than predicted.”

He continues: “This year we also supported two children’s charities: MOWO (funds for schooling in the mountainous regions of China), and Hope for Children (funding for children in Africa) with a raffle draw at the exhibitor party. Raising a staggering £2,000 for the charities to split, Labelexpo Asia would like to thank all those who supported these two worthwhile causes.”