Iran Plast 2016 records rise in foreign exhibitors

The tenth Iran Plast – international exhibition of plastics, rubber, machinery and equipment – took place from 13 – 17 April 2016 at the Tehran International Permanent Fairground in Tehran, Iran, bringing together approximately 1,000 Iranian and foreign companies (2014: ~ 800 exhibitors).

The biennial event was organised by the Iranian National Petrochemical Company (NPC), a subsidiary of the Iranian Petroleum Ministry, in cooperation with Messe Düsseldorf, where the German trade fair organiser was responsible for implementing international exhibitor participations. In addition, the event was supported by the Iran Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) as well as the Iran International Exhibition Company (IIEC).

Mohammad Maghareh, the chairman of the event, touched upon a rise in the number of foreign participants at the exhibition: “Given the lifting of sanctions [against Iran] and the post-sanctions atmosphere, there has been growing demand from well-known European firms to take part in the exhibition, so much so that 500 first-rate foreign companies from 25 countries, including 13 from Europe and twelve from Asia, Oceania and Africa, will be participating in the exhibition. The figure has been unprecedented in [the history of] holding the Iran Plast exhibition and indicates the importance of the event,” said Maghareh.

Maghareh also commented on the latest changes and developments related to Iran Plast 2016: “The whole space area in the exhibition has been allotted to Iranian and foreign companies. The presence of this many foreign firms in the tenth International Iran Plast Exhibition is not comparable to any other development, trade and economic exhibitions held in Iran. The Iran Plast exhibit is the only exhibition in Iran which has been able to move closer to international standards and increase the level of its global participation by up to 30 %,” he said.

“The most important policy pursued by holding the tenth International Iran Plast Exhibition is to lay the groundwork to transfer technology and draw investment to Iran’s complementary petrochemical industries, so that those working in this industry will be able to seize the opportunity to renovate, optimize and manage energy consumption in their ageing production lines. That will help increase productivity in the invaluable complementary petrochemical industry,” Maghareh said.

Also present at the trade show were Iran’s Oil Minister, Bijan Zangeneh, the Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade, Mohammadreza Nematzadeh, the First Vice President of Iran Eshaq Jahangiri, as well as the CEO of NPC, Marzieh Shahdaei.

The 11^th Iran Plast is set to take place from 26 – 29 September 2017 in Tehran, Iran. Further details can be found on the website of the exhibition at www.iranplast.ir.