Cannex - 2009 Report

Judging by the buzz and energy at last month’s Cannex Asia Pacific trade show in China, the canmaking business is gearing out of the economic gloom.

Mónica Higuera, John Nutting and Daniel Searle report The metal packaging industry found a haven of positive economic activity when it met at the Cannex Asia Pacific show in Guangzhou, China, last month.

CRISIS, WHAT CRISIS?
There may be a slowing of investment in the North American and European markets, but from the way metal packaging professionals were either signing up deals or asking for quotes from exhibitors, the business in the Middle East and Asia is growing unabated. Manufacturers of canmaking equipment put on a great show, with machinery either making cans, pails and ends, or overflowing from booths.

One of the exhibitors said that for the first time he had been asked to prepare two full-blown proposals at an exhibition, while another one said that he was “pretty sure” of getting some business out of companies he had met for the first time.

Key to the success of Cannex Asia Pacific, the first of its kind ever held in China, was collaboration with the Ministry of Science & Technology and local authorities. At the opening ceremony, Shi Fuhua, deputy director of the Department of Science and
Technology of Guangdong Province, welcomed delegates along with Luo Yaowu,
president of the Guangdong Food and Packaging Machinery Association and Zhou Yong of the Guangdong Metallurgical Energy Technology Association.

SLAC to create China’s first “canmaking city” An industrial park devoted to canmaking machinery manufacturing and development is being built with government support at Jiangsu Province in China.