Shanghai — Squeezed by limited space at its existing Shanghai trade fair complex, organizers of the Chinaplas show say they are open to moving the fair to a new exhibition grounds in that city.
But in an interview ahead of the Chinaplas trade fair in April, executives with show organizer Adsale Group also offered reasons why they would not want to move the show, noting risks with the new National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai's Hongqiao area.
Currently the show is held in the Shanghai New International Expo Center, on the other side of the city from Hongqiao.
Any change would happen in 2018 at the earliest, as the 2017 edition of Chinaplas is scheduled for Guangzhou's Canton Fair complex.
“On one hand, Chinaplas is now reaching 240,000 square meters and actually we have another 30,000 square meters on the waiting list [at the Shanghai fairgrounds],” said Stanley Chu, chairman of Hong Kong-based Adsale. “40,000 square meters of this exhibition is using outside tents.
“So of course we have to look at the new exhibition center in the Hongqiao area, which is 400,000 square meters indoors and 100,000 square meters outdoors,” he said.
But the new Hongqiao fairground is not designed specifically for heavy equipment shows like a plastics fair, potentially posing a range of practical hurdles with logistics, transportation and utility hookups including electricity, water and compressed air, he told reporters.
“That center is not purposely built for machinery shows,” he said. “It seems [there are] a lot of difficult hurdles to overcome.
“So what I can say is we keep on monitoring the situation, evaluating all different options, evaluating all kinds of alternatives in light of the best interests of the visitors and the exhibitors,” he said.
“What we have to do is do now is do the Guangzhou show well, in 2017, and meanwhile we will evaluate all the options and consider what to do in 2018,” he said. “It's still open.”
Chu also told reporters that his goal for the show was not to have it become larger, but to make it a good exhibition for showing technology.
Adsale said the 2016 show was 80 percent larger, in square meters of exhibition space, than the 2008 exhibition, and it reached a record high of 3,300 exhibitors this year.
