Show organiser Promaplast (Milan; www.plastonline.org) has published the visitor figures for this year’s Plast plastics trade fair, reporting that 38,000 visitors travelled to the northern Italian metropolis for the event from 5 to 8 September 2023. A quarter of them came from abroad, and of these, almost two-thirds were from Europe and a fifth from Asia. The busiest day was 7 September, the third day of the fair, when almost 13,000 guests crowded into the halls of Fiera Milano.

Overall, however, visitor numbers remained far below those of the previous Plast in 2018, when organisers reported 63,000 arrivals. The fact that many representatives of the Italian plastics industry were still on holiday and that the event was very close in time to the Fakuma trade fair (www.fakuma-messe.de) in Friedrichshafen, Germany, proved to be unfavourable with regard to this year’s trade fair date. “We are satisfied,” said Promaplast managing director Mario Maggiani. “We know that early September is a difficult time for an exhibition. But the exhibition calendar left us no room for manoeuvre.” Due to Covid-19, the plans for a show in 2021 had been cancelled. 

The number of exhibitors has now also been specified – exactly 1,323 companies presented products and services at Plast. The mood in the Italian plastics industry, which according to agency Plastic Consult (Milan; www.plasticconsult.it) processed 5.35 mn t of thermoplastics in 2022, showed gloom comparable to Germany and other European countries.