Deutsche Messe AG announced that Hannover Messe 2020 cannot take place this year due to the increasingly critical situation surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. The Hanover region has issued a decree that prohibits the staging of the trade show for industrial technology. From now until the next Hannover Messe in April 2021, a digital information and networking offer will provide exhibitors and visitors with the opportunity for economic policy orientation and technological exchange, said the organiser.

Parker Hannifin announced on Friday, 27 March 2020, that effective immediately, all on-site operations at the Adro facility will be suspended from 30 March 2020 until 3 April 2020. This action has been required following new directives from the Italian Government issued on Thursday 26 March 2020 requiring all non-essential manufacturing operations in Italy to cease.

Laoganma, also known as Old Godmother, manufactures chili sauces in China. The highly popular products are also exported to the USA, Australia and more than 30 other countries around the world. The company produces and seals 1.3 million bottles per day and currently employs more than 4,000 people. And now the world's largest producer of chili sauces has opted to change its entire range over to Provalin TPE sealing compounds supplied by Actega DS.

European Bioplastics, the association representing the interests of the bioplastics industry in Europe, has issued a Call for Papers for the 15th European Bioplastics Conference taking place on 1 – 2 December 2020 in Vienna, Austria. The event will focus on the latest developments in bioplastics as well as on environmental aspects and opportunities for growth in the bio-based plastics sector. Experts are invited to submit proposals for a presentation on the following topics:

According to the Italian plastics and rubber processing machinery and moulds manufacturers' association Amaplast, as per Decree of the Italian President of the Council of Ministers (DPCM) issued on Sunday, 22 March 2020, Italian manufacturers of plastics and rubber machinery – referring to Ateco code 28.96 – may continue their activity, since they belong to a production chain defined as necessary.

The Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) will host a free webinar to discuss the impact of the Coronavirus on the elastomer industry.

Actega do Brazil, a company of the speciality chemicals group Altana, has inaugurated a new integrated site in the city of Araçariguama in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, in which around EUR 2 million have been invested.

AMI has announced that its four focused plastics industry exhibitions, which were scheduled to take place at Messe Essen in Germany on 3-4 June, have now been postponed to 7-8 October 2020.

At Formnext 2019 in Frankfurt, a leading sector show for additive-based manufacturing, BASF 3D Printing Solutions (B3DPS) introduced its new Forward AM corporate brand. The company said that it continues to pursue its goal of driving industrial scalability as the next phase of additive-based manufacturing. “Forward” stands for future-oriented, leading-edge materials and technology, while “AM” stands for “additive manufacturing”. Under the Forward AM brand the company offers end-to-end materials and service solutions along the entire value chain – from an initial product idea right through to its serial manufacture.

Clariant's additives business and Floren-Transforming Packaging Ltd. are working together to further extend the performance properties and market potential of biopolymers.