K 2022 attendance slips 21%, still exceeds expectations

Düsseldorf, Germany — About 176,000 visitors came to K 2022, which was a drop of about 21 percent compared with the last show in 2019.

Show organizers were happy nonetheless, with both the quantity and quality of visitors. Prior to the show, officials had said they didn't really know what attendance numbers to expect in this first major international plastics show since the start of the COVID pandemic.

"We had a very, very intense trade fair," said Ulrich Reifenhäuser, chairman of the exhibitor advisory board, at the fair's closing news conference on Oct. 26. "The only thing for me to do is grin."

Reifenhäuser said the global plastics industry was "eager to present" all the new technology that exhibitors have been developing through three years of pandemic lockdowns, and attendees were enthusiastic to attend in person.

"There was a lot to present," Reifenhäuser said, adding: "We have so much work to do now. So many projects to draw up. It will keep us more than busy for the next few months."

Erhard Wienkamp, managing director at Messe Düsseldorf, added: "K in Düsseldorf has once again fulfilled the highest expectations. It continues to be the most international, complete and innovative trade fair of the global plastics and rubber industry.

"The trade fair has impressively demonstrated just how valuable face-to-face networking, chance meetings and physical brand and product experiences are," Weinkamp added.

Messe Düsseldorf also announced the dates for the next K show: Oct. 8-15, 2025.

K is held every three years. The 2022 show marked the 70th anniversary.

By the numbers, an estimated 176,000 visitors from 157 countries came to K 2022. That compares with 224,116 from 168 countries at the last K, held in 2019, just prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A little more than 70 percent of 2022 visitors were from outside Germany, with the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, France, Belgium, Poland and Spain leading with the most from Europe.

About 42 percent of visitors were overseas, Wienkamp said, which is nearly identical to the percentage in 2019. But the distribution of the overseas visitors was much different this year.

Visitors from China were down significantly, which the trade show organizers attributed to quarantine regulations.

But the fair saw "many visitors from the USA [and] North America, many from Brazil and many from India," Weinkamp said.

Both Reifenhäuser and Weinkamp said surveys of attendees show that the main themes of K 2022 — plastics circularity, climate protection and digitalization — resonated with the audience.

"I can see big steps being made in this important field," Reifenhäuser said, referring to circularity.

The 2022 show was held against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic, the start of a global recession, skyrocketing energy prices and war in Ukraine.

Prior to the show, organizers said they did not know how those potential negatives would impact attendance. They noted, prior to the opening of K 2022, that some major global trade shows this year saw attendance drop 33 to 40 percent compared to pre-pandemic shows.

For K 2022, the amount of exhibition space actually increased compared with 2019, even though the total number of exhibitors fell slightly. A total of 3,037 exhibitors took 178,965 square meters, or 1,926,363 square feet, in 2022. That compares with 3,327 exhibitors that used 177,035 square meters, or 1,905,589 square feet, in 2019, organizers said.

China's 308 exhibitors using 9,414 square meters, or 101,331 square feet, in 2022. That's down from 369 exhibitors using 9,339 square meters, or 100,524 square feet, in 2019.

There were no Russian exhibitors at this year's show due to the invasion of Ukraine. At total of 21 companies from Russia exhibited in 2019. There were four exhibitors from Ukraine this year, up from two in 2019.