TUTTOFOOD, the biennial trade show from Fiera Milano, took place earlier this week, with four intensive days of business meetups, talks, and high-quality content.
This year, TUTTOFOOD featured new trends and products, such as vegetable sorbets, the world’s first pasta made with coffee, balsamic vinegars that can be grated, mint burrata, and canned friarielli. However, the organic industry was still the main feature of the event.
International Hub
The figures say it all: 80,146 certified professionals (an increase of 2.5% on the previous event) visited the trade fair, with 45% coming from non-European countries. TUTTOFOOD was confirmed, once again, to be an international, high-quality food hub.
Other important figures come from the business matches generated from the new MyMatching platform and the 'Grazi all' app. Over 30,000 meetups were arranged among the 2,850 exhibitors.
Italian buyers appreciated the increase in the number of targeted events, as well as the numerous dedicated initiatives organised by Retail Next, and the wide visibility of international exhibitors.
Global Trends
Numerous delegations of buyers came from the targeted countries – USA, Canada, South America, Germany, and Gulf Countries – but also from markets such as France, Benelux and the United Kingdom, not to mention the fastest-growing markets including China, India, South-East Asian Countries, and Africa. This was thanks to the close collaboration with ICE (Italian Trade Agency), which brought 250 new buyers to TUTTOFOOD.
Non-European buyers were searching for the best Italian products. Nina Liu, general manager assistant for the Chinese chain Tube Station, said “the middle class is starting to appreciate the healthy aspects of Italian food, by choosing, for example, extra virgin olive oil. However, wine, especially red, is the current trend. At TUTTOFOOD, we can find products that meet both health requirements and trends.”
As for the United States – the first non-European market for Italian food and beverage exports – a team of 18 Walmart buyers entered into an agreement with ICE at TUTTOFOOD. This agreement will bring Italian agro-food products from small-medium producers to the shelves of 3,600 Walmart supermarkets. The buyers’ reviews left the exhibitors extremely satisfied.
Results
“We are extremely satisfied with our participation in TUTTOFOOD and we also recorded an excellent turnout of industry players and media," said Valérie Hoff, marketing manager for La Linea Verde. "The new fruit and vegetable area allowed us to show what we do and provide a preview of the latest news regarding our brand.”
Stefano Raffaglio, general manager for Dolcitalia, added that “this year our stand has recorded 2,500 Italian and international visitors. All of them were interested in doing business with the company. These figures confirm our leading role in this industry. The 2017 edition of TUTTOFOOD has been a true success and everything went very smoothly.”
Luciano Tantto, Consul General of the Economic and Commercial Sector of the Argentinian Consulate in Milan agreed with these statements.
“We have appreciated the organisation, content, and events," he said. "TUTTOFOOD provided Argentina with a unique possibility to present itself not only as the world’s granary, but also as the world’s supermarket.”
Focal Point
The event has confirmed TUTTOFOOD as the focal point that joins supply chains, as it focuses on all types of industry players, and anticipates trends and innovations, making it a must-attend business event.
Another success this year was the debut of Week & Food, the fringe event that attracted over 48,000 participants to different food events in the city of Milan over the course of a week.
The seventh edition of TUTTOFOOD will take place at Fiera Milano from 6-9 May 2019.
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