Thomas Tegnerud, service manager, Lorentzen & Wettre Products, Pupl & Paper Solutions, ABB, Per Sandstrom, manager Lorentzen & Wettre, ABB, Klara Martens Ekblad, global sales manager for Lorentzen & Wettre Products, ABB and Manoj Sukumaran, area sales manager, L&W Products, Process Industries, Industrial Automation Divison, ABB with L&W Autoline quality management system. Photo IPP
The PaperEx exhibition to be held from 9 to 12 January 2022 at the India Expo Center in Greater Noida, has been postponed, according to a LinkedIn post by the organizers. The paper exhibition and accompanying conference are considered as a meeting point of the Indian paper manufacturers and allied supplier and user communities. Much awaited by the paper and printing industry, the event was seen by the paper manufacturers and input suppliers as an opportunity to discuss the revival of those segments that have been enduring losses in the past two pandemic years.
The Covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, where the Expo center is located, have doubled in the past two days, according to recent news reports. 572 new cases have been reported from the state in the last 24 hours with the Gautam Buddha Nagar district reporting 101 cases. The India Expo Center in Greater Noida is located across the river from New Delhi and is considered a part of the National Capital Region.
Hyve India, the organizing company behind the event received a good number of requests in the past few weeks concerning the postponement of the event due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases across the country. Travel restrictions have been progressively imposed by the central and state governments in view of the spread and increase of the Omicron variant.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
