Messe Essen announced that METPACK 2026 will be shortened by one day.

The organiser and the METPACK Committee have agreed to adjust the trade fair period to four days – and thus make the event more efficient and attractive. 

This means that the international metal packaging industry will next meet from 5 to 8 May 2026 in Halls 1, 2 and 3 of Messe Essen to discuss innovations and trends. 

From Tuesday to Thursday, METPACK will now open one hour longer from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Friday, the last day of the trade fair, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The 2023 edition was still held for five days – and thus into Saturday. 

“This model of also holding the event on Saturday has proven to be outdated,” explains Oliver P. Kuhrt, CEO of Messe Essen. 

“Exhibitor and visitor surveys have shown that many of our guests are already leaving on the Friday of the trade fair. An extended version of the event into the weekend is therefore obsolete,” Kuhrt is convinced.

The opening hours on the other days of the fair have been adjusted. Instead of opening until 5 p.m. as usual, Messe Essen will now open its halls at METPACK until 6 p.m. from Monday to Thursday. 

“We are responding to the industry’s desire for greater harmonisation and more efficiency and are certain that the path we have taken will lead us to a successful event in 2026,” says Christina Kleinpaß, Project Manager of METPACK, looking forward to the next edition of the trade fair.

The registration documents for the next METPACK 2026 are now available on the website www.metpack.de.