“It finally feels like a normal trade fair again!” That was the consensus among exhibitors and visitors at FachPack 2022 packaging show, which recently took place in Nuremberg/Germany. About 32,000 (2021: 24,000) trade visitors, about one-third from outside Germany, took advantage of the opportunity to learn about the latest trends and innovations at the booths run by the 1,154 (2021: 788) exhibitors, and to discuss current packaging issues with the experts.

This year’s key theme, “Transition in Packaging”, captured the spirit of the times. “Even if the overall situation is not easy for many companies right now, the European packaging sector proved extremely innovative and solution-oriented,” summed up Heike Slotta, Executive Director Exhibition at NürnbergMesse. The visitors to FachPack also found PowTech, which was held in parallel, highly interesting: Almost a quarter of those attending said they were interested in the products and services at the leading trade fair for powder & bulk solids processing and analysis.

FachPack itself covered a comprehensive range of products from the entire packaging process chain, from packaging materials and machines to printing and processing, logistics systems and services. The focus was on solutions that combine efficiency and sustainability.

Visitors travelled to Nuremberg from 89 countries, mainly in Europe. After Germany, the highest numbers of visitors came from Austria, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and France. The international contingent this year grew to about 32 %, compared to 29 % in 2021. The results of an independent visitor survey confirmed that more than 90 % of the trade visitors were happy or very happy with the products and services in the exhibition halls. 85 % of the visitors said they were involved in making the purchasing and procurement decisions in their respective businesses. More than half had a management position.

On the first day of the trade show, the German Packaging Institute (dvi) announced the winners of the Gold Awards for this year’s German Packaging Award. The six best innovations for 2022 came from the categories of Economic Efficiency, Sustainability, Digitalization, Packaging Machines and Young Talents. Also celebrated were 32 innovative solutions that were recognized with the German Packaging Award in August.

Packaging manufacturers saw an increase in production and revenue in 2021. About 19.6 m t of packaging materials were manufactured, which equates to a 4.8 % increase in pro-duction volume. Production value increased significantly, by 10.9 %, to approximately EUR 35.8 bn. As in previous years, plastic packaging accounted for the largest share of production value at about 44 %, while paper and cardboard represented the largest share by volume of packaging materials, at about 49 %.

The packaging machinery sector, which has a strong export focus, is also currently being slowed by adverse conditions and crises affecting production and the global economy. Based on the export volume achieved in the first half of the year, combined with a good order book, a small increase in production is still expected for 2022. In 2021, the production volume for packaging machinery increased by 4.6 %, to EUR 7 bn.

In 2023, FachPack will take its normal scheduled break. It will be held again at the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 24 to 26 September 2024.