China Print 2017: The future of the Far East market

Sustainability, innovation and technology. These are the main guidelines for the development of the Far East market, emerging from “China Print 2017”, the second biggest trade fair worldwide for the printing and converting sector. This event, organized by China Printing and Equipment Industry Association (PEIAC), is held every 4 years: OMET participated with the stand of its Chinese branch Omet Suzhou Mechanical Co. Ltd, in operation for more than 10 years in the Wujiang district, one of the fastest growing areas in China.

Marco Calcagni, OMET commercial director and president of ACIMGA (Italian Manufacturers Association of Machinery for the Graphic, Converting and Paper Industry), was invited as lecturer to the international convention “4th International Forum for the Development of Printing Industries, Forum- PI 2017” held on Monday 8^th May, the day before the opening of the exhibition.

Print China Magazine and China Print Show Company organized this convention to support the global development of the printing industry, involving manufacturers from the entire Far East region and various associations, which shared information, data and forecasts about their specific markets. Pu Jialing, vice-president of the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, interviewed the speakers after their personal lecture.

Mr. Calcagni comments: “Debating with spokesmen from other countries was essential to understand the market trends and have a general overview on the global printing industry, such as the leading role of publishing and packaging sectors in different regions, the tendency in printing technology evolution, as well as the widespread interest in digital printing. This convention, full of useful information, gave me the opportunity to rationalize export data and market trends. I had a very promising feeling resulting from the tendency of growth in a wide area, now open to integrate conventional technologies with others, like flexography”.

The 9^th May, China Print 2017 was inaugurated with an official ceremony attended by many authorities, politicians, players of the sector and media partners. Mr. Calcagni represented Italy and the associations considered as “partners” of the event.

Marco Calcagni continues: “The trade fair saw a great number of visitors and all the exhibitors were very satisfied with it. All the integrating events dedicated to specific subjects, like digitalization, environmental sustainability and even America markets trends, obtained great success and proved the opening tendency of China towards business, relations and promotion. Participating to China Print signified to understand where the market is heading and how to channel our offers in the Far East, a very important end market for countries like Italy, which is the second exporter of converting machinery in the world”.

All the events had “the environmental sustainability” as common subject: the Chinese government recently launched a 5-year plan for the industry conversion towards sustainability. A radical change not easy to implement in this country, but also a big opportunity for the development of companies specialized in solutions against pollution, green machinery, processes and technologies as well as renewable sources of energy.