The 28th edition of “Plast Eurasia” (www.plasteurasia.com), which took place from 5 to 8 December 2018 in Istanbul / Turkey, saw 51,684 visitors from 103 countries, according to organiser Tüyap Fairs and Exhibitions (Istanbul; www.tuyap.com.tr). This constitutes a decrease of 4% compared to 2017, when the trade fair hosted a record 53,919 visitors from 101 countries. The organiser has originally expected around 60,000 visitors – 6,000 more than the previous year.

Domestic visitors, in particular, account for the decline, which can in part be attributed to Turkey’s current crises – see Plasteurope.com of 03.12.2018. Their number fell by 7% while the number of foreign visitors rose by 1,151 (17%) against 2017. The total number of international visitors was about 8,000. Foreign participation had decreased significantly in 2016 due to the political climate following the failed coup. The highest recorded number of 8,269 in 2015 – see Plasteurope.com of 08.01.2016 – has not been reached again since.

The topic of the current crises dominated the event. Distributors reported having to offer products below the purchase price in order to make a sale. Certain engineering thermoplastics such as POM, but also PVC, are undersupplied on the market due to high import prices. While smaller trading companies generally did well due to a stable customer base, large distributers experienced a considerable decrease in sales volumes.

There was, however, no noticeable loss of exhibitors at Plast Eurasia 2018 – Tüyap had expected a rise in exhibitors of 7% compared to 2017. Accordingly, Plasteurope.com on location had the impression that the halls were well-filled.

Turkey’s plastics industry association Pagev (Istanbul; www.pagev.org.tr), co-organiser of Plast Eurasia, says the plastics sector remains one of the country’s key industries, having a production value of approximately USD 34 bn (EUR 30 bn). Figures show that Turkey has the sixth largest plastics processing capacity world-wide, and the second largest in Europe.

The 13th “Turkish Plastics Industry Congress”, which took place the day before the fair, featured several internationally prominent figures. In addition to Pagev president Yavuz Eroğlu, 2018’s panel hosted European Plastics Converters (EuPC) president Renato Zelcher, PlasticsEurope executive director Karl Foerster, American Chemical Council (ACC) director general Keith Christman and PlasticsEurope Mediterranean regional director Giuseppe Riva.