China’s 22nd Adhesives and Tapes Industry Annual Conference

The renowned adhesives and adhesive tapes industry event, the 22nd China Adhesives and Tapes Industry Annual Conference, was officially opened on 16 September at the Shanghai Longemont Hotel. Focussing on domestic and foreign adhesives, sealants and adhesive tapes, more than 900 representatives, including manufacturers, engineers and technicians, raw materials suppliers, distributors, equipment manufacturers and experts from scientific research institutes, attended the Conference.

Green theme
With the theme of “Green and innovation: promoting high-quality development of the industry”, the event was carefully planned with 75 special reports and specially invited experts and professors from well-known domestic and foreign enterprises to address the current and future state of the industry. The “green” innovation development theme is at the forefront of industry technology, with the purpose of exploring new hotspots and the latest trends in the research community to form synergies and to promote high-quality development of the industry.

Zhang Zhenyou, chairman of the China Adhesives and Tape Industry Association (CATIA), delivered the opening speech. He said that China's adhesives and adhesive tapes industry has maintained steady growth momentum in the past year. With the continuous introduction of various environmental protection policies in China, the industry's innovation drive and green development trend are increasingly apparent as parts of industrial policy guidance.

VOC governance and chemical enterprises have continuously strengthened their efforts in the environmental sphere, accelerating the structural adjustment of the design and production of adhesives and adhesive tapes. Modified, water-based and new hot melt adhesive products have gained unprecedented attention and development momentum. Mr. Zhang hopes that all colleagues in the industry will work together to promote the sustainable and high-quality development of the adhesives and adhesive tapes industry.

“Are we green enough today? What will the future look like?” At the main venue on the morning of 16 September, Dr. Christoph Riemer, global vice president of chemical and industrial polymers at WACKER, delivered a green-future keynote speech titled “Adhesives”. From the perspective of multinational corporations, he analysed environmental issues, drawing upon WACKER's specific philosophies and practices in green innovation.

Chinese market data for 2017-2018
Yang Hao, vice chairman and secretary general of CATIA, talked about the current status and development trends of the adhesives and adhesive tapes industry in China. He said that in 2018, China's total adhesives industry output was about 6.31 million tons, with sales of 91.3 billion yuan, up 6.9% and 8.7% respectively since 2017. The sales volume of adhesive tape was 25.4 billion square meters, with sales of 43.1 billion yuan. They increased by 8.3% and 6.8% respectively compared with 2017.

Mr. Yang analysed the reasons for the increase and decrease of various types of rubber regarding import and export, raw materials and application fields, and he described the impact of relevant standards, policies and regulations in the industry in the past year. His report also analysed industry development trends, remaining optimistic about continued growth. Participants greatly benefited from this market data and analysis.

A European perspective
President of the European Adhesive Tape Association (Afera) Dr. Evert Smit, head of R&D at the German-based tape-maker Lohmann GmbH & Co KG, discussed the development trend of adhesive tape from a European perspective. He shared developments and breakthroughs in European tape technology, focusing on structural adhesive tape. This included the chemical reactions involved and a forward-looking introduction to the high-end adhesive tape market.

Sustainable materials for adhesives
Zhong Xiaobin, senior vice president of Asia Pacific at Covestro (Shanghai) Management Co., Ltd., shared the latest developments in sustainable materials for adhesives. He described how Covestro is inspired by sustainable development and continues to innovate in various fields, such as renewable energy, alternative raw materials, alternative energy, sports & leisure, automotive, upholstered furniture, 3D adsorption, flexible packaging, etc., transforming ideas into high-quality products.

Automotive lightweighting and electrification
Dr. Qu Jun, chief scientist at Sika Technology Co., Ltd., talked about some of the hot topics of recent years, including the current status and development of the trend toward automotive lightweighting and electrification. He provided a market overview of technological development in industrial and passenger vehicles, detailing the challenges and opportunities for bonding in the automotive industry.

Industry segment tracks
On the afternoons of the 16 and 17 September, the Conference was divided into 4 tracks: Adhesive Application and Research, Raw Materials Supply, Adhesive Technology, and Pressure Sensitive Adhesives and Products. Participants chose to listen to and interact with lecturers of interest.

Next year’s event
CATIA’s 2020 industry conference will be held again in Shanghai. The Association's secretariat encourages delegates to provide their feedback on this year’s event in order to improve and build a broader, higher-quality communication platform for the delegates. CATIA also hopes that everyone will continue to tune in, including participating in the "Adhesive Gold Week" in mid-September 2020.

For more information, visit last week’s event sites here and here.