The organiser of the “Chinaplas” trade fair (www.chinaplasonline.com), Adsale (Hong Kong; www.adsale.com.hk), hosted an online press conference on 23 June, when it outlined some details about the next edition of event that will take place in Shenzhen, Guangdong, from 13-16 April 2021. This year’s Chinaplas was first postponed to August and then cancelled due to the uncertainties created from the coronavirus pandemic (see Plasteurope.com of 24.04.2020).

Around 150 people took part in the Zoom meeting, where both Mandarin and English were used and there were simultaneous interpreters for international participants. Adsale general manager Ada Leung shared some recent figures of the Chinese plastics industry during the pandemic. From January-May 2020, domestic production of plastic products was -4.2% at 27.55m t compared to same period of 2019, while for May 2020, the quantity was at 6.7m t, which is a year-on-year increase of 9.2%.

Plastics machinery production in China was -68.1% at 50,549 units for January-April 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. For April 2020, output was up 27.7% at 26,401 machines in April 2020 compared to the year before.

As in other parts of the world, China has seen recent growth in plastics for medical equipment and supplies, as well as healthcare, hygiene and sports. An uptrend was also observed for packaging, such as for online shopping and food delivery. The E&E sector was also notable for growth, with year-on-year increases seen for notebook computers (up 28.6%), smartphones (up 8.4%) and smart TVs (up 7.1%), in parallel with employees working remotely due to Covid-19. Automotive-related consumption was actually up 3.5% in May 2020 compared to the previous year, due to the fact that government subsidies and tax breaks for new energy vehicle purchases were extended by two years. Here, China has its focus on e-cars, smart cars and lightweighting.

In May, Leung spoke to plas.TV’s Guido Marschall, describing how the Chinese plastics industry in general was dealing with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic at that time (see Plasteurope.com of 14.05.2020).

Shenzhen is China’s technology hub. According to Adsale, the city was designated a “Pilot Demonstration Area” last year and is a major part of the country’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau greater bay area, which includes a cluster known as the “9+2” cities and is the most concentrated region for plastics processing in China. The nine cities in the bay area are Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan and Zhuhai, along with the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao.

Plastic product output from the nine cities reached 11.17m t last year. In 2018, the greater bay area’s total industrial added-value reached CNY 2.82 tr (approximately EUR 353 bn), of which Shenzhen accounted for around 32%. Two years ago, the province of Guangdong invested over CNY 270 bn into R&D funding, with more than 3m companies located in Shenzhen, including BYD (www.byd.com), DJI (www.dji.com), Huawei, (www.huawei.com), TCL (www.tcl.com), Tencent (www.tencent.com) and ZTE (www.zte.com.cn).

According to credit insurance specialist Atradius (Amsterdam / The Netherlands; www.atradius.com), China’s economic growth in general is forecasted to decline sharply in 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak and trade dispute with the US (see Plasteurope.com of 08.06.2020). Adsale emphasised that China has the strategy to change its focus from exports to the domestic market.

Starting next year, the trade fair will be alternating annually between Shenzhen (odd-numbered years) and Shanghai (even-numbered years). Formerly, Chinaplas alternated between Guangdong and Shanghai. It is the first time the event will be held at the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center (SWECC), which Adsale says is to be the world’s first fairground with full 5G signal coverage. It has 19 halls with an exhibition space of around 300,000 m².

The theme for Chinaplas 2021 is “New Era. New Potential. Innovation for Sustainability”, and Adsale has developed a new offline/online strategy for experiencing the next edition of the trade fair. This includes an online upgraded suppliers’ database and business-matching service. Offline, it will host new technical seminars and have publications available prior to the show. Given the smooth functioning of its online press conference, Adsale’s online services for next year’s Chinaplas are set to be a success.