The event, which had been due to take place on 3 and 4 March 2021 at the NEC, will now be held at the venue on 17 and 18 June 2021.
Show organiser Easyfairs said the decision to postpone the event was made in close consultation with its exhibitors, visitors and partners.
“Our top priority is the health, safety and wellbeing of our exhibitors, visitors and staff. I would like to thank them all, and the wider packaging community, for their ongoing support and commitment to the event,” said Renan Joel, divisional director for Easyfairs UK & Global’s packaging events.
“It is clear that the industry is just waiting for the day that it can meet in person and reinvigorate those valuable business relationships and opportunities that come from face-to-face interaction.”
Easyfairs has been running weekly packaging online Innovation Talks since March, with the aim to keep the industry informed and provide inspiration.
In January it will also launch a monthly series of online Discovery Day events, following on from the successful inaugural event in October.
The aim of these sessions is to provide a digital platform to facilitate dialogue between packaging buyers and key suppliers. Sectors covered are set to include food and beverage, and beauty and FMCG, with more to be unveiled in the new year.
“Since the pandemic first hit earlier this year, we have maintained our proximity to our community through regular webinars, which have been vital to keep the industry informed of the latest developments and discuss crucial issues during this time of massive upheaval and change,” said Joel.
“Additionally, we have worked tirelessly as a company to put in place numerous safety measures to ensure we can deliver events to the highest possible standards and have in fact run exhibitions in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium successfully, all of which have been accredited by the industry standard SGS for adherence to the highest safety standards.
“However, with the UK government’s continuing social distancing measures, new lockdown in England and push-back on the go live date for exhibitions, it has become increasingly clear that we will not have the opportunity to organise the Birmingham event with the confidence that we will be able to open the doors at the start of March.”
He added: “We pride ourselves on the highest quality content and organisation, but the ongoing restrictions surrounding Covid-19 prevent us from having the lead time to do this successfully. Therefore, our only option is to delay the event until later in the year.
“With this move, we reaffirm our commitment to ensuring the industry will have the most valuable event in June 2021 to gather and reignite business opportunities as the world emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.”
Last month it was revealed that this year’s London outing of Packaging Innovations and Luxury Packaging, which had been due to take place at London’s Olympia in December, has been postponed to next September.
