Alimentaria, International Food and Drinks Exhibition, will return to Barcelona 26-29 March 2012. The trade fair is warming up for a new edition, which for the first time will last four days. The show will focus all its strategic attention on competitiveness, international expansion and brands in the food and drinks industry. In addition, Alimentaria 2012 will introduce two new exhibition halls at the Fira Gran Vía venue and expects to provide close to 95,000 m2 of product offerings and culinary, business and innovation activities. More than 4.000 exhibitor companies are expected, a third of which form aboard, and 150.000 buyers, 25% international.

The show is focusing on emerging markets and the result is the spectacular growth of representatives from Asia New institutional participants from countries such as Japan, Thailand and Vietnam, and the huge increase in exhibition area for China, which will almost double its exhibition space, demonstrate the positive effect of the many promotional activities being carried out by Alimentaria's organisers.

Alimentaria 2012 is dedicating a specific show to foreign exhibitor groups: the International Pavilion, whose 9,500 m2 feature exhibitors from more than 75 countries. Additionally, foreign exhibitors will also be taking part in the 13 other shows which make up the exhibition, as well as regions and countries that will bring their high quality products to the event. In 2012, Alimentaria will bring together close to 1,300 international companies from 75 countries. It is expected that some 35,000 of its 140,000 visitors will come from abroad.

International projects in Asia, Latin America, USA and Europe
Alimentaria is increasing the number of partner institutions and organisations involved in its international expansion plan. In this regard, the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX in its Spanish acronym) will be especially important, as it will promote Alimentaria throughout the world by means of its extensive network of sales offices, as well as the many promotional activities it carries out.

The show has also renewed its agreement with the Spanish Food and Drink Industry Federation (FIAB in its Spanish acronym), with the aim of offering more and better business and contact opportunities for companies in foreign markets where the food and drinks industry may be more competitive. To this end, several activities will take place during Alimentaria, including the Latin America Project, which encompasses the Central American Pavilion, the Technology and Innovation Conference and the Co-operation Conference. Alimentaria also enjoys the support of the Amec - Multi-sector Business Association - in promoting the show in China, specifically, though its office in Shanghai. The Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Miami is responsible for promoting Alimentaria 2012 throughout the American market and establishing itself as a key element of the International Projects developed by the trade show.

More business agents all over the world
With the aim of strengthening and increasing the presence of international exhibitors and buyers at Alimentaria, the show's organisers are working on the following geographic areas: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Jordan and Morocco. To this end, the decision was made to expand the network of international business agents deployed around the world, which currently covers an area of influence of close to 50 countries. Specifically, the number of agents has been increased 20% in comparison with the 2010 edition.

Also in the area of expanding markets, in recent months some of Alimentaria's organisers have held meetings in Madrid with representatives from the embassies of Thailand, Greece, Market, Ecuador, Hungary, Turkey, Brazil, Chile, the United States, the Philippines and the Netherlands to promote the show in these countries and encourage their participation.

Present in the principal events of the sector
The strong commitment of Alimentaria for the Asian countries grows in every edition. In 2012 we will find it in the spectacular growth of the number of Asian companies that come to the exhibition but also in the presence of Alimentaria in the principal exhibitions of the sector.

The presence of Alimentaria in the Iranian exhibition Agrofood last June, as well as this October in Anuga it did not happen unnoticed for any of the show companies. Over the last few months the profile of Alimentaria has been raised on a global scale at the industry's main events, strengthening and consolidating the show's internationalisation. Since September 2010, the show has been promoted at: World Food Moscow (Moscow, Russia), SIAL (Paris, France) Equip Hotel (Paris, France), ISM (Cologne, Germany), Biofach (Nuremberg, Germany), Gulf Food (Dubai, the United Arab Emirates), Foodex (Tokyo Japan), Prowein (Düsseldorf, Germany), European Seafood (Brussels, Belgium) and Tutto Food (Milan, Italy). Alimentaria has been present at Vinexpo (Bordeaux, France) and Anuga (Cologne, Germany), among others.

The creation of The Alimentaria Hub
The Alimentaria Hub will be the headquarters for the interconnection among innovation, knowledge and trends for the food and drinks industry and its agents. This is a core initiative which will gather together activities with a long history at Alimentaria which already share values such as R&D&I, business development, sustainability and others. These include the International Conference on the Mediterranean Diet, Innoval, Best Pack, the Research and Technology Transfer Conference, the FIAB (Spanish acronym for the Spanish Food and Drink Industry Federation) business conferences, and the university research presented by the Triptolemos Foundation, among others. The Alimentaria Hub will group all of these initiatives under one single umbrella, augmenting their synergies and common elements.

Quelle: alementaria bcn