The organizers of the mammoth Chinaplas trade show announced April 24 they've canceled the show for 2020.
Hong Kong-based Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd. said new instructions from the Chinese government on containing the coronavirus made clear that the show, which had been scheduled for August 3-6 in Shanghai, had to be postponed. The next edition will now take place April 13-16, 2021, in Shenzhen, as previously scheduled, Adsale said.
It pointed to an April 6 directive from the State Council of China on coronavirus preventive measures for venues.
"According to 'Preventive Suggestions' in the circular, it has clearly mentioned that all kinds of exhibitions have to be stopped for the time being," Adsale said.
The show will now be held in April 2021 at the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center in that southern Chinese city, which borders Hong Kong.
The 2020 exhibition had originally been scheduled for mid-April in Shanghai, but Adsale had announced in February it was postponing that event until August, before the latest decision to skip this year entirely.
"The virus is now largely under control in China, but poses a high degree of uncertainty globally," Adsale said. "China has now a formidable task of fighting against local rebound infections while preventing the next wave of outbreak from imported cases."
"We would like to express our gratitude for your continual support to Chinaplas and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by the postponement and venue change," the company said. "We have to put the safety and health of all show participants as our top priority."
The annual show, which regularly attracts more than 160,000 visitors and 3,500 exhibiting companies, would have likely been the largest plastics fair in the world in 2020.
It's apparently the first time Chinaplas has not been held every year since it started. During the SARS outbreak in 2003, the show was postponed from June to December.
The 2021 edition had previously been moved up one month earlier than normal, which some in the industry said was done in part to avoid a conflict with NPE2021 in the United States. NPE is scheduled for May 17-21, 2021 in Orlando, Fla.