Initially, only a postponement of the world's leading international trade fair Interpack by three quarters of a year was planned, which was originally to take place in May 2020. Due to the great uncertainty among companies and exhibitors caused by high infection figures, Messe Düsseldorf announced at the end of 2020 that the Interpack and Components 2021 trade fairs would be cancelled completely.

"We have done everything in our power to do justice to the outstanding importance of Interpack for the processing & packaging industry, even in pandemic times - especially because we have received some encouragement for a presence trade fair from the industry and have a tried-and-tested hygiene concept to protect everyone involved. Ultimately, however, the feedback from exhibitors now clearly shows that the uncertainty is too great to organise an Interpack that can live up to its claim to be the leading international trade fair," explains Wolfram N. Diener, Chairman and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf. "The decision of the Federal Conference of the Länder on 25 November to tighten the measures in Germany and probably even to extend them into the new year unfortunately does not give any hope of a significant improvement for the coming months. This affects all Messe Düsseldorf events in the first quarter. We are now counting on the upcoming regular edition of Interpack in May 2023, which we will supplement with expanded online offerings," Diener continued. Read the full report on the cancellation of Interpack 2021 here.

The last Interpack, which was hosted in May 2017 with 2,865 exhibitors and 170,500 visitors, was followed by a hugely positive response from participating companies. Above all, they praised the quality of the German and international visitors and their conspicuously high willingness to place orders. Many companies said that they had never received so many concrete orders during a trade fair.