23 Italian companies are heading to Vietnam as part of the Ucima collective. This will be followed at the end of the month by the event in Accra.
Ucima is ready to embark on the next leg of its 2023 world tour. The Italian Packaging Machinery Manufacturers’ Association is set to continue its international promotional efforts in Asia and Africa under the new “We make packaging” brand with two Italian pavilions organised in collaboration with the Italian Trade Agency ITA. The first event will be ProPak Vietnam, a packaging and processing exhibition to be held in the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Center in Ho Chi Minh City from Wednesday 8 to Friday 10 November. As always, a large number of Italian companies will be flying out to participate in the show: ABL, Aetna Group, Agriflex, ALsystems, Borelli Group, Cavanna, Cepi, Cimec, Colines, FBR ELPO, GDM, Ica, Itatools, Lafer Packaging, Mechanotools, MW Lak Solutions, Pigo, PND Costruzioni Elettromeccaniche, Raytec Vision, TMCI Padovan, Tropical Food Machinery, Unitech and Zanasi.
The event, now in its 16th edition, maintains its appeal due to its exceptional quality, with the presence of over 450 exhibiting companies from all over the world and more than 10,500 international visitors each year, as well as its geographical location. Vietnam is one of the fastest growing and most promising markets for the food packaging and processing machinery sector. Its industrial landscape is made up of 96% small and medium-sized enterprises eager to adopt advanced technology and reap the benefits of free trade agreements, making it a hub of interest. Moreover, it is Italy’s primary trading partner among the ASEAN countries (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), and with the European-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement now in place, relations are set to intensify. Italy is currently the third-largest exporter of packaging machinery to the country, following China and Germany. The aim of the 23 Italian companies taking part will be to maintain their market presence and increase their export share, especially in a context of intensifying international competition, not just from Asia but also from Europe.
The second event, Plastprintpack Ghana, will be held from Tuesday 21 to Thursday 23 November in Accra. The sixth edition of the country’s foremost trade fair devoted to the agro-industrial supply chain will see the participation for the first time of seven Italian companies in a pavilion organised by the Italian Trade Agency ITA, Amaplast and Acimga: Arol, Irritec, Pietribiasi Michelangelo, Pigo, Sacmi Imola, Studio Tecnico Appiani and Sud Capsule. The Italian pavilion set up for the event will showcase technologies for the entire production process, acting as a one-stop shop to simplify investment decisions. Like Vietnam, Ghana is another country with a rapidly developing local industry. Machinery imports saw a massive increase between 2017 and 2021, from €23 million to €47 million for plastics processing technology, from €59 million to €112 million for food processing technology, and from €30 million to €64 million for packaging and bottling technology. Agro-industrial production currently accounts for about half of the country’s exports, but experts believe there is still plenty of room for growth, particularly in the light of government initiatives to support the sector’s development with the aim of bringing production up to the standards of more mature markets in terms of packaging, traceability and quality.