Plastivision 2017 - BPF post show report

The BPF has just returned from India, where we coordinated the British Pavilion of exhibitors at India's most important plastics exhibition this year - Plastivision 2017.

The exhibition, which takes place every three years, was held over a period of five days in Mumbai (19–23 January 2017) and attracted nearly 1,500 exhibitors and nearly 200,000 visitors.

The British Pavilion and Best of British products display 

British exhibitors came together at the British Pavilion located in Hall 6, where other European and foreign exhibitor stands were located. The international presence always attracts good numbers of visitors to the halls, keen to learn the novel technologies and solutions introduced by the leading brands. 

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) and UK Department for International Trade (DIT) had a joint stand, which provided a platform for a display of innovative plastic products, some of which were the previous years winners and runners up at the UK Plastic Industry Awards, as well as winners from the Horners Award for Plastics Innovation and Design, and the Horners Bottlemakers Award. Each product was displayed in a glass case with the description to showcase some of the best British innovations. 

SOME OF THE PRODUCTS DISPLAYED AT THE BEST OF BRITISH - BPF / DIT STAND AT PLASTIVISION 2017 (pTrumpet, ICE Bottle, Eyejusters)

The majority of British exhibitors stayed in a group recommended hotel - Westin Garden City, which was conveniently located not far from the exhibition ground. With the heavy traffic in Mumbai, the close proximity of the hotel made a huge difference after a long day at the exhibition stand.  Also, staying in a group hotel provided the British delegates with plenty of opportunities to network with each other in the evenings.

After the first day of the show, the British exhibitors and delegates attended a briefing on doing business in India organised by the BPF and DIT. The welcome presentation on the market was given by Deputy Head of Mission Colin Wells, of the Deputy High Commission Mumbai. His insight into India and the opportunities and challenges for UK businesses was well received by the delegation and created an air of auspiciousness to the entire experience, and DIT’s support was appreciated. 

All British exhibitors reported a very positive experience at Plastivision. There was great interest in the British Pavilion and exhibitors were kept very busy, and they now return to the UK with a large number of leads to follow up. 

UK Department for International Trade (DIT) support

The majority of the UK exhibitors were supported by the DIT grant of £2,500 (Tradeshow Access Programme  - TAP) towards exhibiting at foreign trade shows. The objective of the grant is to support UK exporters and help them present at international trade shows. Also, the DIT stand shared with the BPF provided a networking area to host meetings for the British delegates. With dedicated staff, the stand received a lot of enquiries about the UK plastics industry and how we can help to find suppliers. 

The support DIT provided to this event was hugely helpful in creating this positive experience for exhibitors. It helped to create a better, more noticeable and more practical stand for meetings and to capture the attention of event attendees, and in some ways to further authenticate the British presence at Plastivision 2017. The presence of DIT Sector Manager - Agri-tech & Chemicals and Head of Trade for Northwestern India Dipankar Chakraborty was also useful and appreciated due to his local knowledge and general support. 

"We were delighted to partner with British Plastics Federation, who led a strong 9 member delegation to Plastivision 2017 show. India is the third largest chemicals market in Asia, estimated to grow at 11% to reach £170bn by 2020 while imports of plastics have grown at an average of almost 10% year on year since 2010. I am pleased to learn that the delegation had a fruitful visit to India and to hear that some of the companies have already struck deals.  We look forward to working with BPF in the near future and supporting UK exporters in doing business in India." Dipankar Chakraborty, Department for International Trade in India

British Plastics Industry Directory Plastivision 2017

The BPF has collated a listing of BPF members including all UK exhibitors at Plastivision 2017 in a guide to promote UK plastics manufacturers and suppliers. With 1,000 copies printed and handed out at the show – plus an electronic version available to download – the guide was a great success. To download a PDF version of the Guide CLICK HERE

The British exhibitors are listed below...

For more information on the Briitsh Pavilions at foreign plastics exhibitions please contact Justyna Elliott at the BPF on  [email protected]  Alternatively, please complete the form below and we will contact you shortly... Thank you.