Label Summit Latin America reviewed

The 13th edition of Label Summit Latin America hosted 81 exhibitors and 621 attendees at Hotel Las Americas Convention Center in Cartagena, Colombia, on April 26-27.

The two-day conference and table-top exhibition welcomed exhibitors and visitors from 30 countries, with the highest numbers coming from Colombia followed by the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile respectively. Latin American visitors also came from Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The event featured 81 international exhibitors while a total of 15 conference sessions covered topics ranging from industry trends and new technologies to flexible packaging, sustainability and product design.

Day one

In the keynote presentation, Georges Gravanis, president of the materials group at Avery Dennison, discussed changes in the local pressure-sensitive industry. Though ‘headlines are filled with a lot of gloom’, and many South American countries are struggling with economic instability, Gravanis said there is much cause for optimism, with global consumption – which has doubled in size – driving growth in the label industry.

Day two

Day two opened with Andreu Gombau and Liliana Quintero of UPM Raflatac discussing thin film labeling and its increasing popularity in the wine, beer and spirit markets. Consumers are ‘obsessed’ with the look and feel of the prime label, while designs on the back label is an emerging trend with spirit producers, said Quintero, sales manager for UPM Raflatac in Colombia and Ecuador.