About Hong Kong International Printing and Packaging Fair

Hong Kong International Printing and Packaging Fair

The Hong Kong International Printing and Packaging Fair is Hong Kong's dedicated printing and packaging sourcing fair, jointly organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and CIEC Exhibition Co (HK) Ltd. Launched in 2006 and held annually each April at AsiaWorld-Expo near Hong Kong International Airport, it gathers more than 500 exhibitors at its larger editions to present printing services and machinery, packaging materials and equipment, and value-adding and luxury packaging solutions. It runs concurrently with the HKTDC Hong Kong Gifts and Premium Fair at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and the two fairs together have attracted more than 65,000 buyers from 151 countries and regions in a single year.

Launch in 2006 and edition history

The fair was launched in 2006, making its 10th edition in 2015, its 12th in 2017, its 14th on 27 to 30 April 2019 and its 20th edition on 27 to 30 April 2025. It was created to give the printing and packaging industries their own sourcing platform at the moment when buyers were already travelling to Hong Kong each April for the gifts fair, and when packaging in particular was becoming a design-led, brand-defining purchase rather than a commodity input. Industry analysts noted early on that the fair contributed to the rise of prominent new players in the printing sector. The annual April cycle has been maintained across two decades, with the fair operating in the HKTDC's hybrid EXHIBITION+ format in the 2020s alongside its physical editions at AsiaWorld-Expo.

The organisers: HKTDC and CIEC Exhibition

The fair is jointly organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and CIEC Exhibition Co (HK) Ltd, the Hong Kong arm of the China International Exhibition Center group, and has been co-organised by The Hong Kong Printers Association and the Graphic Arts Association of Hong Kong. That combination pairs the HKTDC's international buyer network with CIEC's mainland exhibition reach and the local industry associations' technical base. The HKTDC, a statutory body established in 1966, is the international marketing arm for Hong Kong-based traders, manufacturers and service providers. The organisers state the fair's purpose plainly: to reinforce Hong Kong's role as an international printing centre and to bring together suppliers from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the wider Asia-Pacific region under one roof.

Venue: AsiaWorld-Expo and the two-venue April pairing

The fair is held at AsiaWorld-Expo, the exhibition centre beside Hong Kong International Airport, while its much larger sister event, the HKTDC Hong Kong Gifts and Premium Fair, occupies the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. Shuttle buses link the two venues so buyers can cover both in one trip. The pairing is the fair's defining structural feature: the gifts fair is the world's largest of its kind, and its tens of thousands of buyers are also purchasers of packaging, printed matter and display solutions. The April timing coincides with a peak sourcing season in Hong Kong and Guangdong, bringing thousands more buyers into the region, including visitors to the large trade fairs running in Guangzhou at the same time. The 2014 editions of the two Hong Kong fairs together attracted more than 65,000 buyers, with overseas buyers up six percent, and in 2019 the concurrent fairs welcomed about 67,000 attendees from 150 countries and regions, up four percent on the previous year.

Scale and buyer numbers

Measured on its own, the printing and packaging fair is a mid-sized specialist event whose value lies in its concentration and its borrowed audience. In 2009 it attracted 11,324 buyers from 108 countries and regions, 60 percent of them from overseas. The sixth edition in 2011 featured more than 320 exhibitors from eight countries and regions, up 23 percent on the previous year, with exhibitors from the Chinese mainland, Germany, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, group pavilions from Xiamen and Thailand, and more than 60 buying missions from 42 countries and regions. The 11th edition in 2016 fielded more than 400 exhibitors and attracted more than 14,000 visitors, and the 14th edition in 2019 featured more than 500 exhibitors from six countries and regions. The 20th edition in 2025 featured around 360 exhibitors from across the region. Exhibitor supply is dominated by Hong Kong and mainland producers, especially from nearby Guangdong and Shenzhen, with others from print centres such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shanghai, plus a notable Taiwanese presence.

Exhibit scope: printing services, machinery and materials

The fair covers the full commercial printing and packaging supply chain. Exhibits include printing services and machinery, with primary sectors in offset printing and digital printing; packaging materials and equipment; printing consumables; pre-press and digital printing services; and display and retail packaging. The show is particularly noted for the quality of its monocartons, especially luxury cartons, cost-effective micro-fluted corrugated cartons and point-of-purchase displays, alongside paper and flexible packaging materials. Exhibitors range from commercial printers producing premium books, magazines, wall calendars and business cards to packaging converters serving the gifts, cosmetics, food, wine and consumer-goods industries. Seminars and knowledge events have covered topics such as luxury packaging and 3D printing, and the fair has displayed the winning pieces of the Hong Kong Print Awards, connecting the sourcing floor with the industry's own standards of excellence.

Themed zones: De Luxe, Green and advertising solutions

Themed zones organise the offer. The De Luxe Zone presents high-end printing services and luxury product packaging; in 2014 it featured about 30 exhibitors. The Green Printing & Packaging Solutions zone, introduced alongside a Food & Beverage Packaging Solutions zone in 2011, presents eco-friendly materials and solutions and has returned in later editions, reflecting buyer demand for sustainable packaging. The 2019 edition highlighted four zones: the De Luxe Zone, Innovative Retail Display Solutions, Green Printing & Packaging Solutions and a new World of Advertising and Signs zone, featuring signs and advertising lightboxes to help enterprises enhance brand image and awareness. The zone structure mirrors the market's movement upmarket and toward sustainability: luxury presentation, retail theatre, recyclable materials and brand signage are where printers' margins increasingly lie.

Hong Kong's printing and packaging trade

The fair exists because Hong Kong is a substantial printing and packaging trading economy. During the 2011 edition the HKTDC reported that Hong Kong's exports of printed matter had reached HK$2.5 billion (US$324 million) in the first two months of that year, up 10 percent year on year, while exports of packaging material had risen 34 percent to HK$4.1 billion (US$529 million) over the same period. Production is closely integrated with the mainland: many Hong Kong printing firms operate factories in Shenzhen and elsewhere in Guangdong, including long-established commercial printers in Shenzhen's Longhua district, while Hong Kong retains the trading, design and customer-facing functions. The fair is the annual point where that cross-border industry presents itself to international buyers in one place.

Buyers and who the fair serves

The audience is professional only: print service providers, packaging designers, brand manufacturers, e-commerce businesses and the importers, distributors and retailers who buy printed and packaged goods. Buying missions are a core mechanic; the 2011 fair alone received more than 60 missions from 42 countries and regions, and exhibitor testimonials describe contacts made with potential customers from mainland China, India and Europe. Because so many visitors are in Hong Kong primarily for the gifts fair, exhibitors gain access to buyers from consumer-goods brands who specify packaging as part of a product order, as well as to dedicated print buyers. An onsite survey commissioned by the HKTDC during the concurrent gifts fair is used to gauge industry views on market prospects and product trends, giving participants a shared reading of demand conditions each year.

Place in the HKTDC spring cluster

In recent years the fair has been presented within the HKTDC's spring lifestyle and sourcing fair cluster alongside the gifts, home and fashion events. The clustering strategy groups the Council's April fairs into a single sourcing season: gifts and premiums at the HKCEC, printing and packaging at AsiaWorld-Expo, and related lifestyle events timed to overlap, so international buyers can justify the long-haul trip with several fairs at once. For the printing and packaging fair specifically, cluster membership keeps it visible to the largest possible buyer flow, while its specialist identity — the only HKTDC fair devoted to print and packaging — keeps its exhibitor base focused. The 27 to 30 April dates have become its customary slot.

Significance and outlook

The Hong Kong International Printing and Packaging Fair matters less for its standalone size than for its position: it is the packaging and print companion to the world's largest gifts fair, staged in a city whose printed-matter and packaging-material exports run to billions of Hong Kong dollars, and organised by the territory's official trade promotion body together with a mainland exhibition group and the local printing associations. Across 20 editions from 2006 to 2025 it has tracked the industry's shift from commodity print toward luxury, green and display-led work, zone by zone. With editions continuing annually each April at AsiaWorld-Expo, the fair remains the region's established meeting point for printing and packaging suppliers and the buyers who package Asia's consumer goods.