From May 20 to 23, 2015, in the 26 halls of China Import & Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou, the twenty-ninth international Chinaplas was held, organised by Adsale, supported over the past two decades by Euromap (the European association for plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers) - represented for the opening ceremony by president Luciano Anceschi - and a number of different local industry associations.

Once again, the Chinese fair recorded a new record in the number of exhibitors and net exhibition area compared to the previous year. This time, the fair extended over a gross area of 240,000 square metres and a net exhibition area of 127,000 square metres for 3,282 exhibitors, while in 2014 in Shanghai it spanned 230,000 square metres gross, 120,000 net for 3,067 exhibitors.

The number of visitors this year totalled 128,264 (27% of which were from countries other than China), a 12.4% increase compared to 2013 in Guangzhou, which attracted 114,103 visitors.

It should be noted that this constant growth (moreover in line with the country's development) is paradoxically creating a number of problems for the fair organisers, Adsale. Requests for participation in terms of square metres have for some years exceeded the available space at both fairgrounds. The solutions adopted have not however been sufficient to meet these requests.

In the context of its work to support Italian made goods, Assocomaplast (the Italian plastics and rubber processing machinery and moulds manufacturers' association) coordinated the Italian collective and participated with its own booth at the fair. Moreover, for the international medical plastics conference, the association asked Adsale to add an Italian speaker - a biomedical engineer, researcher at the Engineering Faculty at the University of Pavia - on 3D anatomical model printing for experimental surgery and microsurgery.  The MacPlas magazine, on the other hand, appears as the official "overseas media partner".

As far as the Chinese processing industry is concerned, in 2014 growth in production appeared to be in line with GDP, at approximately 7-8%, while exports rose by about +5%. The world of Chinese plastic processors is constantly being diversified and, in light of the increasing levels of technology used by companies which continue to expand, there are other, smaller enterprises that are encountering greater difficulties. It is not surprising, then, that China is the fifth largest destination market for Italian manufacturers, with a share of 4.8% in 2014 (equal to approximately 130 million euro, +7.2% on 2013) of overall industry exports and it is actually the top market for Germany, accounting for 15.2% of its imports (equal to about 920 million, -5.5%) and for Japan with 24.2% (almost 625 million euro, -2.5%).

As we know, the event is held on alternative years in Guangzhou and Shanghai, while some years ago the location of Beijing was abandoned, primarily in consideration of the limited extent of the plastic industry in that region. The next appointment with Chinaplas will be in Shanghai from 25 to 28 April 2016, as usual in the SNIEC fairgrounds (Shanghai New International Expo Centre), which in 2014 attracted an impressive 130,370 visitors.