The year 2018 is a special one for Fruit Attraction, which has turned ten years old.
A major celebration has been planned to mark the occasion, with some 1,600 exhibiting companies and 70,000 professionals from 120 countries set to meet in Madrid from 23 to 25 October..
For event organisers IFEMA and FEPEX, these attendance figures illustrate the interest and support of the fruit and vegetable sector in promoting Fruit Attraction as an essential tool for the internationalisation of the sector, and a meeting point for the professionals that make up the entire supply chain.
Building A Legacy
It was in 2009 when the sector itself, through FEPEX, identified the need to develop a business project that would help it continue to strengthen its leading position in international markets.
As a specialist in creating customised events for different financial sectors, IFEMA rose to the challenge and developed Fruit Attraction, which was aimed at providing a profitable and affordable business tool with which to attract a large number of top-notch international visitors.
Now, a decade later, the organisers can verify that this effort and work are paying off.
So much so that today, three months after celebrating its 10th Anniversary, Fruit Attraction can confirm excellent participation forecasts, with a 16% growth in both exhibitors and surface area.
The first International Fair of the Fruit and Vegetable Sector event was set across an exhibition area of 7,400 square metres; today, that exceeds 45,000. As for the professional attendees: in its first year of activity, Fruit Attraction registered more than 8,400 participants; this year, more than 70,000 will attend the sector’s great gathering.
These numbers are proof enough of the event's reputation as a first-rate sales tool for companies, which enables it to offer participants a platform for momentum and international expansion.
International Participation
This year's event will undoubtedly be a special get-together, which will see an increase in international participation by EU countries like the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Greece, with particularly strong growth from France.
Non-EU countries are also increasing their participation, including Chile, Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina and South Africa – so much so that the Southern Hemisphere has been assigned a full area for the first time.
Several areas will also be strengthened in 2018, such as Organic Hub, which is devoted to companies that produce organic fruits and vegetables, the Smart Agro area, which focuses on the use of new technologies and connectivity to increase agricultural productivity, and the Nuts Hub, where the spotlight is on nuts.
In addition, the event will play host to the traditional Pasarela Innova and Foro Innova areas, dedicated to innovation and business developments in the sector.
This year, the flower and plant industry will also be joining in with Flower&Garden Attraction. This new event has the support of this industry in its launch.
Guest importer countries at this year's event will be Canada and the Arabian Peninsula region. This event will encourage trade relations between these two markets and the European Union and will be accompanied by a full programme of round tables and B2B sessions.
Alongside this initiative, the fair will once again undertake a significant investment in the International Guest Programme, which will attract 1,000 retail purchasing managers, importers and wholesalers from all over the world.
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