Chile, guest of honour at Hispack 2022

The 18th edition of the Hispack packaging trade fair, to be held at Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue from 24 to 27 May, will have Chile as its guest country. An institutional pavilion – promoted by the Centro de Envases y Embalajes de Chile (CENEM) – will bring a trade mission with representatives from more than 50 companies interested in learning about packaging technology, raw materials and machinery from Spanish and European suppliers.

The Chilean delegation will travel to Barcelona to participate in business meetings with Hispack exhibitors. The companies with specific prospecting or purchasing projects that will make up the trade mission are already being selected in order to schedule meetings according to their interests in collaboration with amec, the Spanish association of internationalised industrial companies. More than half a thousand interviews with Chilean companies are expected to take place in four days at Hispack.

Hispack President Jordi Bernabeu is convinced that this initiative will help to increase the Spanish packaging industry’s share of exports to Chile, one of the markets with the greatest growth potential in Latin America. “We want to demonstrate that the Spanish packaging industry can be an excellent ally for Chilean companies from multiple sectors to increase their projection abroad and respond to challenges linked to sustainability, digitalisation and e-commerce”, says Bernabeu.

For his part, the president of CENEM, Marcelo Meneghello, comments: “for Chile it is a great honour to be the guest country at Hispack 2022, as we have an excellent commercial relationship with Spain and this international trade fair gives us a very good opportunity to get to know first-hand the innovation, competitiveness and quality that Spanish machinery, technology and materials firms offer, in addition to deepening commercial contacts between companies from both countries”.

Likewise, within the framework of the fair, knowledge and networking activities will be carried out that will allow the exchange of experiences on the packaging market in Chile, give visibility to success stories in industries of demand, and analyse the main challenges to be faced linked to sustainability and digital transformation, also shared with European companies in the sector.

Chilean market on the rise

The packaging sector in Chile is one of the most dynamic in Latin America, with an annual turnover of 3.2 billion dollars, according to CENEM.

Despite the pandemic, the Chilean packaging market has grown at higher rates than the country’s economy, driven by the strategy outlined for the next decade, which emphasises exports, especially in the food (fruit, fish and seafood) and wine industries, and in which packaging plays a key role. In fact, 90% of the total demand for machinery, technology and containers and packaging in Chile is concentrated in the food and wine industry, while the remaining percentage is divided between cosmetics, personal care, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.

CENEM points out that the packaging industry has good business prospects linked to the boom in Chilean exports, especially those of the food sector, which are growing at a rate of 10% per year. At the same time, opportunities are opening up for packaging that responds to the challenges of new markets and international requirements, and that provides sustainable solutions and innovations for logistics and e-commerce. Chile also has a growing cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry, where packaging and product presentation are becoming an increasingly important added value for sales.

Spain is currently the fourth largest supplier of packaging machinery in Chile, with a share of 7.8% of total imports in the packaging sector, behind Germany (26.5%), Italy (23.4%) and the USA (12.2%). (12,2%).

Hispack offer

Organised by Fira de Barcelona every three years, Hispack is the largest packaging trade fair on the Iberian Peninsula and one of the leading European trade fairs in its speciality. In 2022 it expects to bring together 600 direct exhibitors and 1,100 brands represented, including leading Spanish suppliers and manufacturers of machinery and technology for the different manufacturing operations of all types of containers and packaging; product preparation, packaging, filling and closing processes; labelling, coding and marking; robotics, automation, logistics and handling, distribution, POS and recycling and recovery. Solutions and materials for the packaging of both consumer and industrial products will also be on display.

In order to contribute to the internationalisation of the Spanish packaging industry, Hispack has established an action plan that includes this alliance with Chile as the guest country. It is also developing its guest buyer programme to attract professionals from around fifteen countries of interest for Spanish exports, and will give visibility to innovative European packaging projects that are shaping the transformation of the sector.

Barcelona, 7th March 2022

Caption (from left to right):  Mariana Soto, manager of CENEM; Marcelo Meneghello, president of CENEM; Sonia Fernández, project manager of amec and  Beatriz Fernández, Hispack delegate in Madrid, during the signing of the agreement for Chile to be the guest country at Hispack 2022

Maria Dolores Herranz
Tel. 34 93 233 25 41
mdherranz@firabarcelona.com