AchemAmerica 2005 – Platform for Technology Transfer and New Contacts

More than 150 international exhibitors and over 5,000 professionals are expected to attend. The largest contingents of exhibitors come from Mexico, Germany and the USA. There is a perceptible increase in the internationality of the exhibitors. With a total of 21 countries represented, this means an increase of 31%. For the first time at AchemAmerica exhibitors representing Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, India, Israel, South Korea, Turkey and Martinique will be present.

Mexico’s Minister for the Economy, Fernando Jesús Canales Clariond, emphasized the significance of this AchemAmerica for the international economic relations of his country and he characterized Mexico with its worldwide network of free trade agreements as one of the best locations in the world for invest-ments and economic cooperation. According to the Minister, the oil industry and the chemical process industries are the cornerstones of Mexico’s future development. Furthermore there is a tremendous demand for technologies and know-how for the food, pharma, biotechnology and environmental sectors.

Key themes of the exhibition profile

The exhibition profile of AchemAmerica comprises all the target groups that play an important part in and around Mexico’s process industry:

chemical equipment and plant engineering, process engineering, petrochemistry, maintenance and quality assurance, environmental protection, water treatment, pharmaceutical technology, biotechnology, food technology, agrochemistry, laboratory and analytical techniques, and packaging and storage tech-niques.

International conferences and business meetings

The Conferences accompanying the exhibition will feature current developments on all issues concern-ing process technologies. The main themes are “Water and Waste Water Management”, “Novel Proc-esses for Refining, SynFuels and Petrochemistry” and “Life Science and Biotechnology”. Business meetings and partnering workshops particularly address small and medium-sized enterprises, the aim being to promote cooperations with Mexico. In the framework of its Latin-American programme, AL-Invest, the European Commission has organized a Latin-American – European branch meeting espe-cially for AchemAmerica, entitled “Technology, Engineering and Equipment for the Chemical Industry and Environmental Technology” (EuroCentro Nafin).

Petrochemistry and the chemical industry count on strong investments

The state petroleum company PEMEX plans major investments above all in the areas of petrochemis-try and refining. The petrochemistry programme Fenix alone, with contracts due to be signed in April 2005, has a volume of USD 2 billion.

According to forecasts of the Mexican Chemical Industry Association, ANIQ, the chemical branch is expected to make investments totalling USD 1 bn. This would mean a 20 per cent increase over 2004. ANIQ reports that at least 60 of its 206 members are known to have concrete investment plans. The targeted production growth is a leap from USD 12.5 bn in 2004 to USD 14 bn. Production plants are set to expand in the areas of adhesives, plastics and preproducts. This mainly involves European, US-American and Mexican companies.

In 2003 foreign direct investments in Mexico amounted to USD 10.7 bn, making it the most attractive location for investments in Latin America. Moreover worldwide Mexico ranked among the leaders, e.g. of the developing countries, Mexico came third after PR China (USD 57 bn) and Hong Kong (USD 14 bn). For 2004 the Mexican Ministry for the Economy anticipates a rise in foreign direct investments to USD 15.6 bn. Economic institutes estimate that between 1994 and 2003 USD 142.5 bn poured into Mexico. In 2005 average industrial growth of around 4 % is expected, the highest increases of 6.5% being targeted by the chemical, petrochemical and rubber industries.

International network of strong partners

AchemAmerica is organized by DECHEMA – Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Frankfurt am Main, whose ACHEMA worldwide concept provides a platform committed to the high standards of ACHEMA in the three foremost economic regions, the EU, the Far East and North America.

The fact that the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour has once again granted support for AchemAmerica testifies to the significance attributed to this event for the German economy. France, too, will be represented with a collective pavillion.