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The Foodtech Packtech show, which ran last week in Auckland, New Zealand, saw a strong Aussie contingent among the final tally of almost 200 exhibitors: the highest number in over a decade.

Zip Pak’s Glenn Woodworth, who spoke to PKN Packaging News at the show on Wednesday, said there had been a lot of interest for its latest Vector zip bag closure, a hermaphrodite “stealth” zip that can run on conventional machines.

“We’ve had 10 sample requests already, and eight machines to quote” he said. “It’s been a big day."

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Other Australian exhibitors included A&D Australasia & A&D Weightec, ABB, AccuWeigh & AccuPak, Confoil, Fibre King, Heat and Control, HMPS, IFM Electronic, Integrated Packaging, JL Lennard, JMP Engineering, KHS, Multivac, Omron, Propac, Rhima, Rockwell Automation, Romheld, SICK, TNA, Tronics, Walls Machinery and Wedderburn.

The Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association (APPMA), which counts many of these companies as members, also exhibited at Foodtech Packtech, alongside the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP).

AIP executive officer Nerida Kelton said this was the largest Foodteck Packtech she’d attended.

“We've been exhibiting here for over 10 years," she said.

"The show is growing every year, and this is the best one.”

A number of free seminars also took place at the show, and the APPMA hosted a panel discussion on understanding sustainable packaging innovation and trends featuring Confoil NZ’s national sales manager James Romhany, UPM Raflatac’s Carol Lawrence, and Greenchip director, Anthony Peyton.

Food & Drink Business

Entries are now open for the annual Melbourne Royal Australian Food Awards. Open to commercial food producers of all sizes, it is one of the largest programs of its kind. 

Victorian brewery, Bodriggy Brewing Co, is the first brewery in the state to achieve carbon-neutral certification and only the second in Australia to do so. The independent Abbotsford-based brewery achieved certification under the federal government’s Climate Active program.

According to Rabobank data, Australian consumers are facing higher chocolate prices heading into Easter, with retail chocolate prices up 8.8 per cent on the previous year as global cocoa prices soar.