International, inspiring and above all personal – that was the 36th edition of Anuga which was staged from 09.-13.10.2021 in Cologne. With over 70,000 visitors from 169 countries and more than 4,600 exhibitors from 98 nations, the leading global trade fair for food and beverages once again demonstrated that trade fairs of these dimensions are possible again. “We are delighted with this result. It underlines the global significance of Anuga and the trust that is placed in us as a trade fair organisation. Furthermore, it also shows that Germany as a trade fair location continues to hold a leading and attractive position in terms of the global competition,” explained Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse. “Also the hybrid approach worked very well and proved very popular. In the scope of Anuga @home, we were able to offer above all those people, who were not able to travel to the trade fair, a good opportunity to inform themselves about specialised themes and engage in intensive networking,” Böse added.

Anuga also set a benchmark in terms of its level of internationality in these post- Corona times: 97 percent of the exhibitors came from abroad. At 76 percent, the degree of internationality of the visitors remained at a constant level (2019: 75 percent). “People from 169 nations – that is a strong signal and shows at the same time how much the international food industry needs trade fairs to do business again. Our exhibitors, who reported about outstanding customer dialogues and the high quality of the trade visitors, also recognised this fact. The discussions with the buyers also confirmed how highly they estimate the time for intense, personal dialogues with their customers. Anuga 2021 simply made the international world of food personal again. And this euphoria and spirit of optimism was noticeable all over the trade fair,” emphasised Oliver Frese, Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse GmbH.

Top buyers on board

Above all the quality and preparation of the buyers as well as the serious interest in generating business again convinced the exhibitors. Countless buyers with high decision-making competence from the trade and food service, including the relevant top buyers of important chain stores attended the trade fair in Cologne. An initial evaluation of the visitor survey shows that over 70 percent of the respondents use Anuga to groom existing and build up new business relationships.

Hybrid in future

As a hybrid event, Anuga also offered a digital platform for the exhibitors, visitors and media representatives: Anuga @home. In addition to intensive networking, above all the digitally streamed event and congress programme comprising of a variety of lectures, discussions and presentations by renowned trade experts and companies of the food industry met with great interest. In total, 353 formats with more than 6,380 broadcasting minutes were streamed over the three days of the trade fair. Particularly the live streams of the two conferences, the Newtrition X and the New Food Conference, were very popular. The presentations and the networking offers of Anuga @home will also be available on-demand after the trade fair.

Anuga in figures:
4,643 companies from 98 countries took part in Anuga 2021 on exhibition space covering 244,400 m². These included 400 exhibitors from Germany and 4,243 exhibitors from abroad. The share of foreign exhibitors was 92 percent. More than 70,000 trade visitors from 169 countries attended Anuga 2021, the foreign share was 76 percent.

The next Anuga will take place from 07.-11.10.2023.

Export and innovations are the growth drivers of the worldwide food industry

The 34th Anuga was the best trade fair in a long time for many of the exhibitors. More than 7,400 companies from 107 countries, a new record, presented products from all over the world and all categories over the course of five days. Around 165,000 trade visitors from 198 countries took advantage of this unique offer for sourcing, information and ordering at top level. In addition to the high level of internationality, which characterised the picture of the trade fair on all days, the quality of the visitors was once again outstanding. For example, Executive Directors and top buyers from leading global trading companies were registered. The out-of-home market was also represented by international teams in Cologne as well as decision-makers from the major online trading companies.

They were all there: The registration data of Anuga shows that the entire trade was present in Cologne, both from Germany and abroad. They included Aeon, Ahold, AlbertHeijn, Aldi, Auchan, Carrefour, Coop, Costco, dm, Edeka, Globus, Hofer, Jumbo, Kroger, Metro, Migros, Müller, Norma, Rewe, Rossmann, Sainsbury, Sams Club, Schwarz Group, Sobeys, Spar, Target, Tesco and Walmart. Amazon and JD.com were present from the online trade. Furthermore, buyers from numerous specialised online platforms were also among the visitors of Anuga. Important importers and international wholesalers also travelled to Cologne to attend the trade fair.

Important buyer groups from the out-of-home market (food service, communal catering, system gastronomy companies) were also welcomed at Anuga, among others Autobahn Tank & Rast GmbH, CHEFS CULINAR, Gourmet International, Ikea, LSG (Supply Chain Sarl), Sysco (USA), SPCgroup (Korea), Transgourmet and YORMA’S AG.

Furthermore, it became evident again at Anuga that the trade fair is an indispensable sourcing platform: Many exhibitors were able to address their customers from the processing industry directly and conclude important contract transactions.

The share of foreign participants was high both among the exhibitors (90 % foreign exhibitors) as well as among the visitors. The foreign share of visitors increased up to 75 percent (2015: 68 percent). As usual the attendance from the EU countries and Switzerland was high. An increase in the number of visitors was particularly recorded from Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands. More visitors also attended from the USA and Canada. The attendance from China, Japan and the partner country, India, was also very good. More visitors were counted from South Ameria too, especially from Brazil, Peru and Uruguay. There was also an increase in the number of visitors from the Near East and states of North Africa, i.e. from Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Tunisia. More people visited Anuga from South Africa as well this year.

The export-oriented food industry was thus able to reach an international and first-class trade audience at Anuga. The innovations, which as always were a key focus of Anuga, contributed towards providing the industry with new impulses and ideas. These trend themes included food and beverages that are rich in protein, new products on the theme “superfoods” and numerous new ready-to-go/ready-to-eat ideas. Sustainable concepts as well as organic products were still high in demand, vegetarian and vegan themes were also a major focus. Alternative sources of protein like insects were a theme of intense discussion among the media.

The next Anuga will take place from 5 to 9 October 2019.