This year the International Fair of Plastics and Rubber Processing “Plastpol”, held in Kielce / Poland from 17-20 May, will be celebrating its 20th edition. Organiser Targi Kielce (www.targikielce.pl) expects that exhibitor numbers at the leading industry event for the plastics sector in central and eastern Europe will grow slightly over last year. More than 800 companies from 30 different countries will present their portfolio on the 30,000 m² fairgrounds. The four-day event is expected to attract about 18,000 visitors.

The fair focuses on products from the industrial design, packaging, marking and recycling segments and also features a range of conferences and seminars on the latest developments and challenges faced by the plastics industry. This year’s Plastpol will once again feature a competition among exhibitors who stand to win free participation at next year’s event.

Kazimierz Borkowsky, head of PlasticsEurope Polska (Warsaw / Poland; www.plasticseurope.pl), said the fair serves as a good indicator of the possibilities for and challenges faced by the Polish plastics industry. For years, this particular sector has developed positively. The country is currently ranked Europe’s sixth largest plastics market, on the heels of Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the UK. The Central Statistical Office of Poland, GUS (http://stat.gov.pl), reports that Polish plastics demand increased by 7.1% in 2014 to a total of 3.1m t (for more details, see Plasteurope.com of 22.07.2015). Figures available for the first three quarters of 2015 show that the positive trend continued, with year-on-year gains of close to 5%.