Chemspec India 2009 Review
Go fourth to Mumbai
Chemspec India returned to the NSE Goregaon Exhibition Centre in Mumbai for the fourth time on 16-17 April 2009. This was the fifth time overall since the launch event in Hyderabad in 2004. During the event, it was announced that Chemspec India 2010 will return to the same location on 15-16 April 2010.
The show was once again organised by DMG World Media, publisher of Speciality Chemicals Magazine, in association with Chemical Weekly, India’s leading chemicals industry publication, and YA Tradefair, this time with the added help of knowledge partner Frost & Sullivan and online media partner IndiaMart.com.
As in previous years, Chemspec India 2009 united some of the largest global players in fine and speciality chemicals of all kinds, who were represented either directly or via their Indian offices, with their Indian counterparts at one of the busiest shows in the industry. There were some 150 individual exhibitors and covering over 3,000 m2 of net floor space.
Preliminary visitor numbers totalled 5,092, 2,897 coming on Day One and 2,195 coming in for the first time on Day Two. As is often the case at Indian exhibitions, over 75% of the visitors registered on-site, making the registration area a scene of frantic activity almost until the minute the show closed.
Certainly, too, the show floor remained busy to the end and it was consequently not possible to speak to all of the major international firms there. Those surveyed on the second day, however, were almost unanimous in their enthusiasm, citing the high numbers, quality and diversity of visitors present.
BASF India, the local arm of the world’s largest chemicals firm, supported Chemspec India once again. The focus at its stand was on the services the company can offer to customers in the pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and paints and coatings sectors, notably in the form of its ChiPros chiral intermediates, non-chiral specialities, intermediates for coatings and ionic liquids for a wide range of applications.
Prasad Chandran, chairman of the BASF Group in India and head of South Asia for the company, lit a lamp to open the show and then took a tour of the site. “Helping our customers to succeed is a cornerstone of BASF’s strategy. Chemspec is an excellent industry platform to connect with our customers and we see good potential in getting associated with it,” he commented.
Speaking to SCM on the second day, Vivek Bapat, general manager for intermediates at BASF India, said that the company’s key objective in exhibiting was to maintain the firm’s presence in the market and show its commitment to the pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and coatings markets, particularly during the ongoing downturn.
Chemspec India is the ideal platform for doing this, because of its horizontal nature, with many different industries present, said Bapat. During the show, he added, he had met a lot of existing customers, though not many new ones.
“It is more important to us to have meaningful discussions with current and potential customers than to meet new people. A large quantity of visitors doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality is good,” Bapat said.
With the acquisition of Rohm and Haas, Dow now claims to be the worlds leading speciality chemicals and advanced materials company, as well as its second largest chemicals firm. Dow India, its local arm, exhibited at Chemspec India for a third consecutive year, with the stand displaying its diverse product portfolio across many applications in many different industries.
Atul Marathe, sales director for specialty chemicals at Dow India commented: “Dow retains its market leadership in the speciality chemicals industry through ongoing R&D and working closely with our customers to provide upgraded services and technical solutions that meet their individual needs. Chemspec offers an ideal platform for conducive dialogue and representation of these solutions with key customers.”
Two new arrivals at Chemspec India this year were collective stands representing UK companies. Both were in Mumbai not just to showcase their participating companies’ capabilities but also to sign important deals with their Indian counterparts during and after the show.
One of these was organised by the Chemicals Industries Association (CIA) with support from UK Trade & Investment. Contract Chemicals, Robinson Brothers, Thomas Swan, Reaxa and Exwold Technologies were all present at the CIA stand. Here, the CIA signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Chemistry Council (ICC) with a view to encouraging trade between the UK and India.
This, said Neil Harvey, head of the International Trade & Sector Networks group at the CIA, added up to a “triple first”. It was the first time since the Millennium that the CIA has taken a group of companies to India, the first CIA pavilion at Chemspec India and the first time the CIA had signed such an agreement with a non-EU country.
“Indian chemical companies have prominence in the global market. As they grow, they will welcome new international business development opportunities,” said Harvey. “The UK offers key advantages for trade and investment, which is why it remains Europe’s number one investment destination. Several Indian chemical companies have already successfully invested in UK-based production and R&D facilities.”
The North East Process Industries Cluster (NEPIC) stand, meanwhile, included Aesica Pharmaceuticals, Dow Haltermann Custom Processing, Durham Organics and law firm Dickinson Dees. NEPIC also signed a MoU with the ICC after Chemspec India to develop their partnership further. Beforehand, NEPIC staff had travelled up to Gujarat to sign a similar MoU with the Vapi Centre of Excellence.
NEPIC commented that it had met over 100 Indian companies at the show, generating many trade leads for its members and promoting North-East England as a place for Indian firms to invest in. “Each member company made valuable contacts within the Indian chemicals sector and are expecting valuable trade contracts to be agreed as a result of the visit,” it added.
At the NEPIC stand, Dr John Edwards, technical leader and commercial development manager at the Dow Haltermann site in Seal Sands, commented that Chemspec India was busier in general than other shows.
“I like the feel of the pavilion. It seems to get a lot of passing traffic,” he said during the second afternoon. “All of our literature has gone and a lot people are coming by asking what we do.”
Another new feature at Chemspec India 2009 was REACH Corner. This was adapted from the successful launch feature at Chemspec Europe 2008 in Munich in June last year. The aim was to enable companies to market REACH compliance services via a mixture of stands and seminar presentations to an Indian market that is only just beginning to get to grips with the concept.
Dr Joanne Lloyd heads REACHReady, the CIA’s reach compliance business and the organiser of REACH Corner, commented on Day Two that she was closing in on the pre-show target of 50 quality leads. The number of people she had spoken to, she added, was “phenomenal”.
“Broadly speaking our expectations have been met,” added Lloyd. “There is certainly a lack of REACH awareness in India and there is a lot of confusion over who can help them, but we are getting the right audience here – most of them have connections with Europe – and this is a good show compared to others in the field.”
Also present were many companies from all over the world. Japan’s Kyowa Hakko, for example, was represented by its Singaporean office. It took a stand at Chemspec India to showcase its capabilities in amino acids for the life sciences and acids and alcohols for coatings.
“The Indian market is significant for us and this is a very important show,” commented Hiroaki Yamato, manager of industrial chemicals. “The show definitely met our expectations and we got a lot of leads from agents.”
Likewise for Sinochem Jiangsu, one of the largest Chinese players and one of few to exhibit away from the large pavilions, India is a very big market. Yvonne Wang, general manager of the Agrochemical division, described Chemspec as “a good platform” for its chemicals, intermediates, offering more personal contact than some more specialised shows.
For more information on Chemspec India 2010, please contact:
John Lane
Sales Director - Chemicals
DMG World Media UK Ltd.
120-130 Station Road
Redhill
RH1 1ET
UK
Tel: +44 1737 855076
johnlane@dmgworldmedia.com
www.chemspecindia.com
