ColombiaPlast Buyer Meetings Yield More Than $3 Million USD in Immediate Packaging Deals

Packaging Exporters Top 2024’s Immediate Business by $1 Million USD

Colombian packaging manufacturers closed more than $3 million USD in immediate business with international buyers during a one-day matchmaking session at ColombiaPlast 2026, $1 million USD more than at the trade fair’s 2024 edition. ProColombia, the government’s export, investment and tourism promotion agency, organized the session September 29 in Bogotá in partnership with Corferias (BVC: CORFERIAS), the fair’s venue and one of its organizers, and the Asociación Colombiana de Industrias Plásticas (Acoplásticos, Colombia’s plastics industry association). ProColombia published the results on October 14, and the Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo (Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, MinCIT), headed by Minister Mauricio Gómez Amín, released them on October 15.

Exporters and buyers review materials on a laptop at a numbered table during the ColombiaPlast 2026 matchmaking session. (Photo courtesy MinCIT)

Twenty buyers from Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panamá, Perú, Puerto Rico and the US held about 150 meetings with more than 50 exporters from Antioquia, Bolívar, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Santander and Valle del Cauca. Beyond the immediate business, the session generated $4,794,100 USD in expected business: $930,000 USD within one to three months, $2,065,500 USD within three to six months and $1,798,600 USD after more than six months, according to ProColombia and the ministry.

President Abelardo De La Espriella’s government chose Samuel Bluman, an Antioquia businessman, to lead ProColombia in August, according to La República. In the agency’s announcement, Bluman tied the matchmaking results to the industry’s prospects in international markets.

“These results reflect the capability and level of specialization that the Colombian plastics, containers and packaging industry has reached, as well as its potential to continue winning international markets.”

— Samuel Bluman, president, ProColombia

Fair Grows Its Exhibitor Count and Floor Space

The matchmaking session was one part of the 13th edition of ColombiaPlast, which opened September 28 and ran through October 2 alongside the Feria Internacional Industrial de Bogotá (Bogotá International Industrial Fair, FIB). ColombiaPlast had 325 exhibitors from 15 countries, 187 of them international, on 6,600 net square meters, up from 297 exhibitors, 159 of them international, on 6,000 net square meters in 2024, according to an October 8 report by the trade publication PlasticsToday.

Ana Garibello, project manager at Corferias, said the five days brought together nearly 35,000 professional visitors, according to PlasticsToday. A single general-admission ticket covered both co-located shows, and Corferias reported more than 35,000 professional visitors in its closing figures for FIB. PlasticsToday put participation in the matchmaking program at 67 Colombian exporters, 13 of them ColombiaPlast exhibitors, in 154 meetings.

Packaging Exports Reach 86 Countries

Colombian containers and packaging reach 86 countries, with the US and Ecuador among the largest buyers, and the segment has exported more than $1.8 billion USD over the past five years, according to ProColombia and the ministry. Plastic packaging makes up 64% of the sector’s exports and sells in about 70 countries. Data from the Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE) cited in the announcement put 2025 packaging exports at about $400 million USD, up 9% from 2024. The announcement said the sector ranks fifth by share within the chemicals and life sciences chain.

Daniel Mitchell, president of Acoplásticos, said before the fair that the plastics production chains export close to $2 billion USD a year, according to El Tiempo, adding: “This is not very far from what the flower sector exports.” He said the sector could finish 2026 with better results than in the two previous years and that expectations for 2027 point to growth above what is forecast for 2026.

Plastics Industry Partners Unveil a Digital Transformation Center

Hot-runner temperature controllers for plastics processing on display at ColombiaPlast 2026. (Photo courtesy MinCIT)

The fair also served as the launch for i4Plas, which PlasticsToday described as Colombia’s first industrial digital transformation center and one of the few in Latin America dedicated to plastics and rubber. Acoplásticos developed the center with the Instituto de Capacitación e Investigación del Plástico y el Caucho (Plastics and Rubber Training and Research Institute, ICIPC) and KERN IoP, the Industry 4.0 brand of PM Tec Engineering, according to the association’s announcement, which describes i4Plas as the first such center for the plastics industry in Latin America. Among the milestones in its initial three-year roadmap, according to Acoplásticos, are putting a “Factory 4.0” laboratory into operation, validating at least three industrial pilot projects at member companies’ plants, training 150 people in analytics and Industry 4.0 maintenance, and carrying out 50 Industry 4.0 maturity assessments and 20 transformation roadmaps.

A study by Acoplásticos with support from the Inter-American Development Bank found that the sector faces innovation barriers tied to high costs, a lack of financing and limited access to technology and training, according to the announcement. The association said the challenges i4Plas will address include scrap, with 5% to 10% of injection-molded parts coming out of specification, and unscheduled stoppages that cost more than $400 USD for every hour an injection machine sits idle. Mitchell said in the announcement: “With i4Plas we want to improve the productivity standards of the plastics industry in Colombia through the application in plants of the latest advances in the internet of things, prototyping, robotics, digital twins, additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence.”

ColombiaPlast is organized every two years by Corferias, Acoplásticos and Messe Düsseldorf North America, and ProColombia has taken part since 2012. The next edition is scheduled for October 2 to 6, 2028, at Corferias, according to the event listing of Messe Düsseldorf.

Headline photo: Colombian exporters and international buyers meet at numbered tables during ProColombia’s business matchmaking session at ColombiaPlast 2026 in Bogotá. (Photo courtesy MinCIT)