Exhibitor Testimonials

Starlinger & Co. GmbH, Angelika Huemer, Managing Partner, Austria
Russia is a very important market for us. We have been active here for many years and have learned that you need a great deal of patience – some projects take several years to come to fruition – but there is stable growth – not very fast, but constant. The customers here have become technologically much more demanding in recent years, which is good news for us, since we offer highly complex systems. Starlinger is the global market leader in the field of machines and process engineering for woven plastic sacks, and we also supply plastic recycling solutions. We have seen lively demand in the field of cement sack machines, as the paper sacks that still predominate here are not very resistant to tearing and result in significant losses. At INTERPLASTICA we meet customers and interested potential customers from throughout Russia as well as from neighbouring countries.

BASF SE, Dr. Rainer Büschl, Head of Communications, Performance Polymers, Germany
BASF has been very successful with standard polymers in Russia for a long time. In the near future we hope for business to pick up in the technical polymers sector, too. This is particularly due to the recovery in the automobile and packaging industries here. Bioplastics are also a hot topic now, but it is still early days.

Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG machine works, Ulrich Reifenhäuser, Managing Partner, Germany
The BRIC countries in general – and Russia in particular – have given our company a very welcome boost. Even if the speed at which new orders are coming in has slowed a bit now, I still anticipate the steady growth to continue. We primarily supply machines for the production of blown film and flat film to Russian customers, as well as thermoforming sheet lines, first and foremost for the food industry. We are well positioned in the Russian market, in particular since the merger of Reifenhäuser Kiefel Extrusion. At INTERPLASTICA we present our new products to customers and interested potential customers from Russia and the entire GUS each year, and enter into concrete negotiations.

AZO, Karl-Heinz Bußbach, AZOPoly Division Manager, Germany
Both the level of demand and the lively contacts at INTERPLASTICA 2012 were significantly better than last year. It is noticeable that the situation has improved in every sector of industry. Nevertheless, growth is faster in some industries than others. AZO has seen strong demand in the field of flooring, although the rest of the infrastructure sector is still rather cautious. We offer turnkey systems for material handling and use this fair not only to meet customers and make new contacts, but also to find out more about developments in the market on the ground. It is very pleasing to see that it isn’t just Russian trade visitors who attend, but also visitors from Kazakhstan, the Ukraine, Belarus, etc.

KAUTEX Maschinenbau GmbH, Hubert Moritz, Area Sales Manager, Germany
We primarily meet customers here who we have been dealing with for a long time already, although we have also met a few interesting new contacts, too. The development of business in the new year that has just begun looks very good for us, and we have seen strong demand, especially from the chemicals industry and the automotive sector. Looking at things in general, German-Russian business relations have developed very agreeably over the past few years – we know and trust each other.

Brückner Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG, Karl Zimmermann, Sales Director, Germany
We have had a large stand here at INTERPLASTICA for many years now, because we have confidence in the Russian market and can still see great potential for our company here, especially in the field of flexible packaging. We have also made contact with a lot of interested potential new customers again this year. That fact that we didn’t withdraw from the Russian market during the crisis is really paying off for us, as business is picking up again now. We are optimistic that Russia will remain an interesting market in the years ahead, too. However, it would be very important to increase local raw material production, as the existing capacity for high quality raw materials is currently insufficient.

Akdeniz Kimya, Ersin Izmirlioglu, Export Sales Manager, Turkey
Russia is one of our main markets – we supply additives & stabilisers for PVC, such as are used in the production of window frames, for example. INTERPLASTICA, where we have had a stand for several years now, is an excellent opportunity for us, not only to meet new customers, but also to meet up with our existing business partners in person and to negotiate new deals with them. We also meet customers from the Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other GUS countries here. In my opinion, the Russian market is likely to remain stable in the long term, even though recovery is less dynamic elsewhere in the world at the moment.

Windmöller & Hölscher, Reinhard Elting, Sales Director Eastern Europe, Germany
Food packaging is the area that is seeing the strongest growth in the Russian market at the moment, and in which Windmöller & Hölscher sees good sales prospects continuing in the future. For instance, we have seen how the packaging printing plants here in Russia are expanding their range of services and getting into film extrusion. There is also a clear trend towards more sophisticated technology, such as film extrusion of 3 layer film, and even 9 layer barrier film. This means that there is great demand for consulting services, and we also have our own subsidiary here in Russia as well as offering a wide range of services, all of which puts us in a good position. we are very optimistic for the future, especially when it comes to the use of film, as Russia has a lot of catching up to do in comparison to Western Europe.