While trade fair after trade fair is being cancelled or staged in a virtual or hybrid format, Germany's Messe Düsseldorf (www.messe-duesseldorf.com) said it has reached an agreement with its association and industry partners and the trade fair advisory board on guidelines for “interpack” (www.interpack.com) from 25 February to 3 March 2021. The deal also covers the concurrent “Components” fair.

In the light of the ongoing pandemic and the feared reduction in visitor numbers, all participating companies are being offered more favourable conditions. The latest Plasteurope.com survey shows that just under half of those questioned cannot yet envision attending a trade fair. Roughly one-third said they will be ready in the second half of 2021, i.e. after the next interpack, and around one-sixth reported that they will only attend a trade fair when a Covid-19 vaccine or treatment is available (see Plasteurope.com of 12.11.2020). Exhibitors who cannot or desire not to participate also benefit from exceptional cancellation arrangements for a limited period of time.

“We fully understand our exhibitors' reservations and uncertainties in the current situation,” said Thomas Dohse, project manager of Messe Düsseldorf. “At the same time, we are also getting feedback on how important face-to-face discussions are for our customers and on the outstanding importance of interpack.” He pointed to a practice-proven hygiene and infection protection concept that will enable exhibitors and professional visitors to meet up safely on the show floor.

The world's leading fair for the packaging industry, which is held every three years, was scheduled for 16-26 June 2020 before its postponement due to the corona pandemic (see Plasteurope.com of 17.03.2020). The last interpack in 2017 attracted more than 170,000 visitors from 169 countries and over 2,800 exhibitors (see Plasteurope.com of 15.05.2017).

The Paris composites show “JEC World” has been pushed back to 1-3 June 2021 from 9-11 March “due to the continued impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and after thorough consultation of clients and partners”, according to organiser JEC Group (Paris / France; www.jeccomposites.com). The 2020 show was cancelled due to the coronavirus (see Plasteurope.com of 03.04.2020).

The 2020 instalment of the Turkish fair "Plast Eurasia" set for 2-5 December (see Plasteurope.com of 05.10.2020) has been pushed to 1-4 December 2021, according to the country's plastics industry association Pagev (Istanbul; www.pagev.org.tr). It organises the trade show with Turkey's Tüyap Fairs and Exhibitions (Istanbul; www.tuyap.com.tr).

PIE has collected these and other event postponements or cancellations in a list

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