By Kris Crismundo
MANILA – ProPak Philippines, the annual international trade expo for the packaging industry, will hold its fifth edition at the World Trade Center in Pasay City on February 12 to 14, 2025.
This year’s expo will bring together some 250 exhibitors from over 30 countries. The will showcase their packaging technologies and innovation for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and fast-moving consumer goods.
The expo will feature global industry players such as Wolf, Multivac, Middleby, and Heat & Control as well as country pavilions of Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, and Italy.
Over 12,000 potential buyers are expected to visit the trade event to find solutions for consumers market demands, such as new product development, sustainable packaging designs and innovation, and new food safety regulations.
Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Science Research Specialist Angel Basbasan Jr. said in a recent pre-event media briefing in Pasay City, that sustainable packaging has been the “hot topic” for the industry both in the global and local markets.
Basbasan said the DOST aims to establish more testing facilities and research and development laboratories to explore new packaging raw materials which are more sustainable than plastics.
“The Admatel or Advanced Device Material Testing Laboratory in our division, established recently the SPTL, or Simulation Packaging and Testing Laboratory, and the Green Packaging Laboratory to be at par with the other international research institutes,” he said.
National Solid Waste Management Commission Commissioner and Asia Packaging Federation president Joseph Ross Jonson said in an interview that increasing the budget for DOST and the Department of Trade and Industry is crucial in developing the local packaging industry to make packaging facilities more accessible to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) so they can sell their products overseas and compete with global players.
Jonson said it has been a challenge for local MSMEs to export their products as packaging standards are stricter abroad. (PNA)