By Robert Grace
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Published: April 28, 2014 3:59 pm ET
Updated: April 28, 2014 9:05 pm ET
Image By: Jessica Jordan/Plastics News
SHANGHAI — Chinaplas, the world’s second-largest plastics and rubber trade show, saw its attendance grow by 14.4 percent to 130,370 for the four-day event that just concluded in Shanghai.
The organizers, Hong Kong-based Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd., reported that 28.3 percent of the attendees — or nearly 37,000 — for the April 23-26 event came from overseas.
The Chinaplas show last May reported 114,000 visitors in Guangzhou, in the south, near Hong Kong. Chinaplas 2015 returns to Guangzhou for next May 20-23, once again running from Wednesday through Saturday.
The 2014 show was the 28th edition of Chinaplas, which is staged annually. The world’s other two biggest plastics shows — Germany’s K Show in Düsseldorf and NPE, set for 2015 in Orlando, Fla. — each take place only once every three years.
While organizers' differing policies for counting attendees makes direct comparisons difficult, the official attendee counts for the eight-day K 2013 last October was 219,000 people, while the four-day NPE in 2012 drew 55,529 people.
This year, more than 3,000 exhibitors, including 400 first-time exhibitors, occupied a record total exhibition area of 230,000 square meters (2.48 million square feet) at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre in Pudong. That represented a 9.5 percent increase in exhibition space over the 210,000 square meters booked for the 2012 show held at the same venue. The SNIEC fairgrounds this time had 17 exhibit halls plus 13 temporary, tent-like structures set in the middle of the grounds.
Fourteen countries and regions participated as pavilions in the show, with South Korea and Switzerland making their first appearances in Shanghai.
This year’s attendance broke down as follows: Day 1 drew nearly 40,000; Day 2 represented the peak with 47,285; Day 3 attracted almost 33,500; and Day 4, a Saturday, dipped to just over 10,000.
Adsale said it counts attendees once for each day they attend. | 
