Propak Africa brought together more than 500 local and international exhibitors, presenting thousands of cutting-edge products, technologies, and services across the packaging, plastics, printing, food processing, and labelling sectors.

Over four dynamic days, the event served as a powerful platform for innovation, industry connection, and commercial opportunity, drawing strong engagement from professionals across the value chain.

Adding significant value to the overall event experience, over 60 expert speakers delivered compelling, informative sessions at the two seminar theatres and at the Institute of Packaging SA (IPSA) half-day conferences.

Taking place from 11-14 March at the Expo Centre in Johannesburg, over 12,500 visitors attended Propak Africa – a 28% increase from the 2022 edition of the event.

Managing Director of Specialised Exhibitions, Gary Corin, described the show as having “a really positive vibe” and that the trade that has taken place has been exceptional. “We’ve had a high number of good quality visitors, and our numbers are up from 3 years ago – substantially so. It’s really encouraging, not just for the show, but also for the economy and for the industries the show represents.”

As organisers, Specialised Exhibitions recognises the significant investment exhibitors bring to the show floor—not only in state-of-the-art machinery and product displays, but also in the presence and time of their senior executives actively engaging with visitors. “It’s impressive to see the industry coming together and the investment made,” says Portfolio Director Mark Anderson. “The entire spectrum of the packaging sector is represented at Propak Africa—packaging, plastics, processing, labelling, and printing for packaging—truly bringing the full supply chain under one roof for four days.”

“Exhibitors have been selling machinery off their exhibition stands – we’ve seen a number of SOLD signs on the big machinery displayed at Propak Africa,” says Anderson. “The show has surpassed expectations. Our onsite rebooking programme for the next Propak Africa in 2028 has already secured just under 70% of the exhibitors. This is a really good testament to the excellent show that our exhibitors have had at this year’s Propak Africa”.

Exhibitor feedback has been extremely positive with hundreds of sales leads generated, sales made from the stands, reconnecting with existing customers and new connections made with potential customers, both local and international. The advantage of meeting face to face in this environment cannot be found anywhere else.

“We look forward to hosting our exhibitors and visitors again at the next Propak Africa from 7-10 March 2028 at the Expo Centre in Johannesburg,” says Anderson. “There is also a big demand for packaging in the Western Cape, so we run Propak Cape around 18 months after each Propak Africa, both rotating on a 3 year cycle. We’re looking forward to seeing many of our exhibitors and a lot of our visitors down in the Western Cape in October 2026”.  

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