Largest Trade Event Grows Larger

Bumper crowds have attended the largest trade event ever to be held in Zhuhai, China—the world capital for the manufacture of printer inks and toners—which is also the largest event for print consumables in the world.

While many trade shows have declined due to the availability of product on the internet, and cost cutting due to the recent global financial crisis, RemaxAsia Expo 2013 & iPrint(China) attracted more visitors—11,232 from more than 80 countries—and more exhibits—432 from 20 countries—than ever before. The 30,000 square meter show was held again at the China Airshow Centre over three days: October 17-19.

Organisers were concerned back in 2012, when fewer numbers than 2011 turned up. This was mainly due to a change of show dates (one month earlier), major road constructions causing huge travel delays, and the Chinese-Japanese crisis (which deterred international visitors).  “We should have had more than 10,000 in 2012 following the successful 9,800 we had in 2011,” said Recycling Times Media’s (RTM) Director Tony Lee—the organizer of the RemaxAsia and iPrint Expos. “However, we have bounced back in 2013 with a much bigger event, with new exhibitor faces as well this year, such as IPM from Turkey, and Color Toner from Japan.”

According to a survey conducted by RTM during this year’s event, most attendees think cartridge remanufacturers are more focused on IP issues, following the recent general exclusion order in the USA and other law suits with printer OEMs. They claim they are investing more into R&D to develop their own-branded products.

3D printing was a new attraction to this year’s expo. Visitors saw the latest 3D products and technology, and the ability to personalize products. Other highlights included the honoring of individual inventors from both the academic and industrial world. Print-Rite’s founding CEO, Arnald Ho, presented awards to those whose skills and imagination have advanced both the technology and the design of equipment to the benefit of suppliers, distributors and consumers. He stressed the environmental friendliness of remanufactured cartridges and the “green” message of our industry.

Global remanufacturing giants based in Zhuhai used the occasion to deliver their key messages. Ninestar celebrated the construction of its new industry park with a “Hello Future” forum which reflected CEO Jackson Wang’s view that we do not need to fear the future. Print-Rite went public for the first time announcing its intellectual property strategy through to 2020.

“Many exhibitors have already started to book their booth for 2014,” says Tony Lee. “In 2014, we will relocate the shows to a brand new venue—the Zhuhai International Convention & Exhibition Centre—which is just minutes from all the downtown hotels.” Jeong Pil Yoon from Korean-based InkTec, said: “The show is good. We’ve met many customers. We’ll come again next year.” German-based INTEGRAL’s Tania Hagemann said, “I would like to express our good impression from the trade show. It has become more international, [and] we are confident about our connections [and] enlarging the number of our customers.”

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