Lankapack 2012 begins at SBMEC

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

The 12th edition of the packaging exhibition Lankapack 2012 organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging and PICO Sri Lanka will begins today at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition Centre. The three day prime packaging industrial exhibition will ends on May 27.

Lankapack is a focused business to business meeting place which brings in the entire local packaging fraternity and buyers from across the country and potential regional markets under one roof. The event has shown steady progress in exhibitors and visitors over the years and the response was encouraging, Exhibition Organizing Committee Chairman Dharmatilake Ratnayake told Daily News Business.

"We expect this event to be a show of great importance. The packaging industry is recording growth due to increase in exports as well as growing demand for consumption in the domestic market," he said. Lankapack Expo is being held after a lapse of five years and the response has been phenomenal with almost all companies representing the various segments of the industry coming forward to be part of this exhibition.

The growing international interest is an added significance of this year's event with 35 Indian companies and 10 Chinese companies taking space at the exhibition as direct participants. This is the largest foreign delegates in past 11 editions of the Lankapack exhibition. There will be representations of some of the largest products and services from UK, USA, Germany, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.

The event has wide regional importance as it shapes up to be a flagship international trade show with large international representation this year. With the growing demand for the packaging in the country and the rapid growth in the market with the ending of the war there is huge potential for the industry to grow further, he said.

Lankapack 2012 is expected to draw key industry players and several sub events have been planned during the exhibition.