By David Reed, UT EditorSao Paulo--With over 500 polyurethane specialists from the whole South American region, the PU Latin America 2005 exhibition got off to a solid start, Tuesday 30 Aug, in the ITM Expo centre in downtown Sao Paulo. And the free, company-sponsored technical seminars running alongside the exhibition also had good attendance, with almost 100 local polyurethane processors and others gathering to hear the first presentation, given by Bayer MaterialScience specialist Gerhard Heilig and local colleagues discussing some of the recent developments in discontinuous foaming applications.Later presentations by Clovis Holanda of GE Advanced Materials, Silicones, and Rodnei Abe of Dow Brasil SA were also well-attended.Although no breakdown of the visitor origins is yet available, it is believed that the majority those visiting the event are from Brazil, but other delegates from Mexico and Colombia in the northern parts of Latin America were present, along with others from Argentina in the south.And several dozen senior technical and marketing specialists from all the major international raw material and processing equipment suppliers present in the exhibition added to the mix--as did the sizeable delegation of Chinese companies present, aiming to sell their machinery and chemical products to the Latin American market.Although reluctant to second-guess the situation, Tony Kenter, co-organiser of the event with Paul Mitchell of Crain Communications Ltd, recalled that the previous PU Latin America event, back in 2001, saw attendance on the second day higher than that of the first.If this same pattern emerges this time, the target of more than 2000 visitors over the full three days of the event looks likely to be achieved."
