Sales of bottles and packaging for the Mexican pharmaceutical industry increased 17 percent over the past five years, reaching $150 million in 2009, according to the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute of Arlington, Va.
For the first time, the association's Expo Pack México trade show featured a pharmaceutical pavilion and a conference program geared to that sector.
PMMI describes Mexico as Latin America's largest pharmaceutical market. The trade group of 560 member companies organized the show, held June 22-25 in Mexico City.
“To get the pharmaceutical industry to the point where it generates the jobs and economic growth it is capable of, it's essential to encourage production, research and tech- nological development and to strengthen business connections that expand opportunities to export products,” PMMI President and CEO Charles Yuska said in a news release.
The group also introduced Expo Pack Verde, a program to promote suppliers' green solutions and encourage packaging recycling, reuse and reduction.
According to Yuska, the show attracted 21,400 visitors and 890 exhibiting companies from 20 countries. It included pavilions from Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Spain, Taiwan and the United States, as well as a financing pavilion.
“We are extremely pleased with the results from this year's event,” Yuska said. The attendees, he added, were “serious buyers looking for solutions.”
Exhibit space grew 15 percent, to 169,000 square feet, since the last show.
Expo Pack México was part of Packaging Week, a series of conferences and similar events organized by Mexico's packaging trade group, Asociacón Mexicana de Envase y Embalaje.
“Based on recent data from AMEE, it looks like the Mexican packaging industry could grow 3 percent in 2010,” Yuska said. Positive economic data also indicates the industry is “heading in the right direction,” he added.