Record High Results from RUPLASTICA 2024!

January 23 — 26, 2024 the Expocentre Fairgrounds hosted a new season of the leading International Trade Fair of Plastics and Rubbers RUPLASTICA, in collaboration with the expositions from UPAKEXPO, RECYCLING SOLUTIONS and ADDITIVE MINDED, as well as a new project Moulds and Dies, at a single venue the event offered the most advanced solutions from the leading Russian and international manufacturers and suppliers of polymer raw materials, equipment, and fittings.

In the course of four days the key Russian professional platform for presentations of tech and product achievements — RUPLASTICA trade fair (together with all related projects) — was visited by record high number of specialists — more than 30.000 professionals from all regions of Russia, as well as EAEU countries! The trade fair accommodated more than 1.100 companies from 20 CIS countries, Europe, the Middle East, etc. The most large-scale expositions were arranged by producers from Russia, Turkey, China, India, and Iran.

  

Kirill Piskarev, Director, Group of Projects RUPLASTICA, UPAKEXPO and RECYCLING SOLUTIONS:

"Today is the time to act, recognize and set the trends, that’s why we specifically highlight the three most important aspects: technological sovereignty, new international routes, and relevant needs of the market.

Positive economic background prevailing in the country at the time of the trade fair and reflected in it was a trend many exhibitors and visitors emphasized. The exposition focuses made it clear that Russian companies are not only keeping pace in their operations, but have strengthened their logistics, substituted a number of foreign materials and parts with, among others, Russian analogues and products of domestic companies. We’ve accumulated such potential that allows us to get to a completely different level and development dynamics for the whole country — RUPLASTICA 2024 trade fair became a vivid illustration of that."

Alexander Shaynikov, CEO, EXPO FUSION:

"Today companies use the opportunities offered by such trade fairs in a more efficient way. We see that the number of Russian companies has grown significantly, and they employ new economic realia for their benefit, for the benefit of the country. The range of products they exhibited is a leap forward and a meaningful support to many sectors of our industry. The exposition part of the trade fair has also multiplied. During recently we witnessed a lot of exhibitors and companies coming from Asia, but Russian participants are dominating."

Mikhail Katsevman, President, the Association of Plastic Processors; Director for Science and Development, R&P POLYPLASTIC:

"RUPLASTICA-2024 trade fair has become a really big event at the very beginning of the year. The novelties of equipment, functional additives, and brand assortment in general were very interesting. The most striking impression was not just the increase in the number of exhibitors or exhibit space, but the great enthusiasm Russian companies show when facing the challenges of today, the willingness to develop new materials and technologies, fight for the market share, compete and improve their business every day, drafting the plans for technological sovereignty and leadership".

RUPLASTICA 2024 became a record not only in the number of participants (more than 1.100 Russian and international companies, with domestic exhibitors prevailing), but also in the amount of the core and peripheral equipment displayed in operations, both as part of industrial lines, and as separate presentations in Pavilion 2. This year in addition to traditional suppliers, products from machines and equipment section were also presented by numerous participants from China and Turkey. To confirm the above mentioned positive trend evolving in the sector, we should note that Russian machine building companies that develop and produce the equipment independently, employed, among other sectors, in processing and recycling of plastic waste, are feeling more and more confident in the market.

  

The innovation and the premiere of this season is the project titled Moulds and Dies that allowed the processors, right at the trade fair, without leaving the country, to arrange for the orders of moulding tools to launch new products. This theme has always been one of the reasons why thousands of specialists visit RUPLASTICA, however this season the project became even larger, more specialized and more articulate as an integrated exposition, to furnish the manufacturers of polymer products with all the solutions needed in a rapidly changing environment. Moulding tools were presented by more than 120 companies from six countries — this project became a good asset for processors of plastics, now they are having more opportunities in this trade fair to find solutions for the whole production chain.

Alexander Matyushenko, Chief Engineer, Technical Control Department, Nucon Energy:

"Representatives of our company visit this trade fair every year to find partners in production of press moulds for casting of plastic products, casting services, as well as selecting the compounds based on polypropylene, polyamide, and other materials suitable for electrical components. We managed not only to find useful contacts, but to get consultations from technical specialists to tackle the issues in our current press moulds and parts."

 

In addition to the relevant and attracting professional attention exposition of the press moulds, Pavilion 2 (Halls 2 and 3) became the key location for RECYCLING SOLUTIONS exhibition, displaying the recycled resources, equipment for waste processing and production of products from recyclable materials, as well as extruders and extruding units, finished products made of polymer materials and rubbers.

The RECYCLING SOLUTIONS exposition became the single demonstration platform for current and innovative solutions in waste processing and recycling technologies. The main area of activities of the companies presented in this section is development, production, and sales of equipment for plastics recycling, packaging industry, and single-use items sector, equipment for processing plastic, wood, rubber, paper, and other types of waste, as well as turn-key solutions for industrial facilities for processing films and solid plastics made of LDPE, HDPE, PP.

  

Considering the record high number of the exhibitors for the first time the decision was made to add Pavilion 3 to the integrated exposition of RUPLASTICA 2024, where the visitors could find optimal solutions in both, the equipment and the raw materials segment. Together with the Chinese suppliers, the venue presented companies from India, through participation in the largest Russian trade fair trying to strengthen their positions in our market.

Dmitry Semyagin, Editor-in-Chief, Information and Analytics Centre RUPEC:

"This year we clearly see, that international players at RUPLASTICA are not just our partners from China, Russian developers of technologies and producers of equipment are also ready for competition. 2023 showed, that Russian polymer manufacturers and their consumers acting in tandem, can give a significant boost to the processing industry. We see it from the figures and in the sentiment among the participants of the trade fair."

  

A separate zone in the Pavilion hosted a special project ADDITIVE MINDED, presenting technologies of additive production and 3D-printing. The exposition is arranged in two sections: Additive Minded Talks Conference, where the leading experts discussed the status, the prospects and development tracks for this sector within the current focus on import substitution and under sanctions based limitations; and exhibition zone Additive Minded Expo, where producers and users of professional 3D-solutions shared their experience in implementing digital approach to manufacturing physical objects, and presented equipment, systems, materials, auxiliary components, as well as services for additive production.

Dmitry Trubashevsky, Moderator, ADDITIVE MINDED Conference; Founder, Logica Sloya (Layer Logic):

"At the last conference we looked into established and quite innovative cases of applying 3D-printing for many sectors of the industry, sometimes they completely change the mindset of the developers and the approaches to how you can design products of the future, attracting new demanding consumers. The event was brilliant!".

  

As part of RUPLASTICA 2024 for the first time the II International Hackathon on Chemistry and Physics of Polymers was arranged by partners of the trade fair — IRPC (Inter-branch Research and Production Centre). 2 days, 24 hours from the starting point, students and young scientists from 17 Russian specialized universities, as well as from the Republic of Belarus, were actively searching for a solution to a single technical task — to develop a personal protective gear made of polymers for users of electric scooters. The contestants fought for the prize provided by the general partner of the event — SIBUR company. As a result of the jury voting the places were distributed among the strongest: the First place was taken by a team from Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology, the Second place — Tver State University, the Third — Voronezh State University of Engineering Technologies.

  

The visitors were also attracted to the special zones, such as: Logistic Point, regulating the turbulent need for transport connections and adaptive logistics solutions; Education Point, representing specialized educational institutions of various levels from across the country, serving as a serious step forward for careers of young specialists; and Robotics Point, showing the developments and solutions in robotisation of production of plastics based polymer materials and products.

Igor Skopintsev, Professor, Moscow Polytechnic University:

"Our university has always been participating in this trade fair, where this year on a wider scale the participants showed both traditional types of equipment and raw materials, and new ones, mostly related to plastics recycling. The visitors of our booth had a lot of questions about the options of studying in our university, they asked about the educational programs, pre-university training, qualification upgrade and re-training. The representatives of the industry obviously suffer from lack of talents. This is proved by the fact that, when visiting the booths of equipment and raw materials suppliers, our students received a lot of offers for internships and employment options. In general the trade fair made a great and positive impression. We can certainly say that the event helps us, the representatives of the higher education, to understand the vector of the future educational tracks across relevant areas of training."

Pavilion 8 (Halls 1, 2, partly 3) traditionally accommodates the exposition of UPAKEXPO trade fair with packaging machines and printing equipment.

   

In addition to a large-scale exposition, important meeting points for the participants, visitors and the leading experts of the market were the locations of the business programme of the trade fair. The agenda of the previous season included six streams and brought together more than 100 key experts: POLYMER PLAZA, RECYCLING SOLUTIONS, ADDITIVE MINDED, INNOVATION PACK, partners’ conferences — Laboratory and Quality Control for Polymer and Packaging Production Site and Casting and Moulding of Plastics. Smart Technologies, presented by Plastics and Extrusion Magazines.

The four-days business programme of the trade fair was opened by the thematic area titled POLYMER PLAZA. The representatives of prominent specialized companies, among those are the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, Rupec, SIBUR, Argus Media, the Association of Plastic Processors, Aditim, POLYPLASTIC, etc. shared opinions and news on the current status of the global market of polymers, their application and prospects for production localisation, on the performance of polymers processing industry in Russia, prospects of Russian export of PP and PE, stimulation of import substitution, and many more.

Igor Lebedev, Head of Forensic Russia, KEPT:

"It is very pleasant to participate in such large-scale event with so many professionals around having an opportunity to talk about relevant problems, discuss what to do with the changed export agenda, how to survive under sanctions pressure and other factors of uncertainty in the internal and external operating environment."

Detailed discussion on recycled plastics continued during the second day of the business programme — RECYCLING SOLUTIONS. Speeches from experts were dedicated to development of circular economy, re-use of materials, integration and cooperation of players, tariff regulation, technologies and equipment. Representatives of REO, Group Ecoline, Clean Country Association, SIBUR, RusPEC, Ecopolis, Vkusvill, etc. discussed the development of III-V Hazard Class Waste Management System in Russia, relevant responsibility of packaging producers, recycled polymers market conditions and many more.

Maxim Remchukov, SIBUR:

"RUPLASTICA trade fair has always been focused on awareness raising. Such are today’s specific sessions we were able to listen to and to speak at, dedicated to recycling of polymers. So many participants, everyone is so motivated, all the venues are packed — it shows that people are not just business oriented, but they’re interested in development and are willing to understand where the industry is going to."

  

The agenda for January 25 was devoted to extrusion, functional additives, innovative compounds, robotics, labour market, import substitution, casting equipment, etc. The themes were voiced by the representatives of Steer Engineering, RAR, POLYPLASTIC, Nevlabs, Skolkovo Foundation, TechnoNICOL, and others.

 

Now summing up the official results of the trade fair we can definitely say: RUPLASTICA 2024 trade fair became a record across all qualitative and quantitative indicators, again proving its status as the leading event in the industry.

The organizers extend sincere gratitude to all participants, visitors and partners of the trade fair for your sustained interest, engagement and personal involvement in the industry.

The future season of RUPLASTICA trade fair, as well as the packaging industry UPAKEXPO and waste management and recycling RECYCLING SOLUTIONS trade fairs will take place January 21 — 24, 2025 traditionally in Moscow at the Expocentre Fairgrounds.