Over 1,000 exhibitors and around 25,000 trade visitors at the Special Edition in Cologne
For four days, from April 26 to 29, 2022, the food and beverage industry met with its supplier sector at Anuga FoodTec – Special Edition – in Cologne, Germany. “Anuga FoodTec is and remains the central and international meeting place for the industry. And this leading position has been clearly underlined by the successful re-launch of the trade show here in Cologne. The right concept, at the right time,” said Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse GmbH. “The high-caliber trade audience that traveled from more than 120 countries met excellently positioned and committed exhibitors here in Cologne. Intensive effective discussions characterized the course of the trade fair. The exhibitors’ feedback confirmed to us once again how important personal encounters are for successful business,” added Oliver Frese, Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse GmbH.
Dr. Reinhard Grandke, Chief Executive Officer of DLG (German Agricultural Society) and Chairman of the Anuga FoodTec Advisory Board, clarifies: “The mix of physical and digital offerings underscored the high professional relevance of the international Anuga FoodTec platform and provided the right setting for successful business deals and investments. Compact, innovative formats offered numerous opportunities to take an in-depth look at the intelligent automation of production processes in the food and beverage industry. Along the entire value chain, new technologies and concepts were presented that push the sustainable use of natural resources. The important networking of science and business practice was again achieved in an exemplary manner in Cologne.”
The opening of Anuga FoodTec by Federal Minister Cem Özdemir also underscored the outstanding importance of the trade show for the industry. During his tour of the trade show, Minister Özdemir learned about a wide variety of new concepts and solutions for meeting the challenges facing food and beverage producers worldwide.
A total of around 25,000 trade visitors from over 120 countries were counted. The attendance from other European countries and from Germany was very strong. Visitor numbers from the Middle East and some African countries were also gratifyingly good. The proportion of visitors from abroad was around 57 percent.
As the most important platform of the year, Anuga FoodTec thus successfully launched the re-launch of the entire industry. The great need for investment and, at the same time, the high level of willingness to invest on the part of the inquiring industry was expressed, among other things, by the fact that many of the managing directors and plant managers who attended approached the exhibitors with concrete project ideas. In some cases, machines and equipment were even purchased on the spot. The current world situation has increased the need for answers to questions in areas such as energy efficiency, resource conservation and sustainability. In addition to key players, numerous medium-sized companies, smaller specialists and 28 start-ups also showed innovative concepts tailored precisely to the industry.
“Smart Solutions – Higher Flexibility” was the highly relevant guiding theme of the trade show and its extensive technical program, which was very well received by the international audience with over 200 specialist events. The DLG played a leading role, using its expertise to organize the numerous events in a variety of formats. For example, specialist forums highlighted a wide range of current topics in food technology and linked scientific findings with business practice. Visitors also received a compact overview and orientation with regard to pioneering innovations in the field of food technology during the Guided Tours on the exhibition grounds.
Until June 30, visitors will have the opportunity to network with exhibitors at the Anuga FoodTec @home digital extension, watch missed presentations from the congress program and pick up a wealth of other industry information. Visitors to Anuga FoodTec can use the platform, free of charge, while the rest can access the content after registering free of charge.
Current trends, the latest innovations and visionary concepts for the food of the future were under focus more than ever at Anuga from 5 to 9 October 2019. The world’s largest trade fair for food and beverages demonstrated once again that it is the industry’s no. 1 global event. With over 170,000 trade visitors (plus 3 percent compared to 2017) from 201 countries and around 7,500 exhibitors (7,405 in 2017) from 106 countries, the trade fair set new records. The share of foreign exhibitors was almost 90 percent and the share of foreign visitors was 75 percent. Exhibitors from all over the world presented the entire spectrum of global products in ten trade shows under one roof. “The continual growth in the number of trade visitors and exhibitors confirms the excellent international standing of Anuga as the industry’s most important business platform. This record result means we are continuing to write the success story of Anuga in its 100th anniversary year. No other event brings supply and demand together so effectively at such a high level of quality as here in Cologne. However, Anuga 2019 fulfilled the function as a window to the future more pronouncedly than ever as well. Strategic decisions for the entire food industry were discussed here, new solutions and concepts for the big challenges of the global food industry were presented too,” stated Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse GmbH.
Paraguay’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Liz Cramer, held the opening speech for the partner country. She was particularly delighted about the friendly reception at the trade fair and the keen interest of the trade visitors in her own country: “We are convinced in Paraguay that a free and fair world trade is a source of further development and that it can lead to a more efficient usage of the globally available resources. Our exhibitors from the food industry, who have taken part in Anuga, are reporting about a high number of meetings with potential partners and are thus expecting to experience a growing demand for food from Paraguay. Furthermore, we have learned a great deal about the expectations of today’s consumers at the trade fair. I am convinced that in the face of the excellent outcome of our participation this year, Anuga will remain to be an overriding event for the development of the Paraguayan food sector in the coming years, with a significant presence of companies and representatives from the public sector of our country.”
Friedhelm Dornseifer, President of the German Association of the Retail Grocery Trade (BVLH) was also very satisfied: “Anuga has once again succeeded in presenting the diversity of the food industry in an impressive way. Whereby the trade fair has also succeeded in linking up the future themes of the industry with the current political debate about which influence the production, processing and marketing of food has on the environment and climate change. In its 100th anniversary year, Anuga is thus presenting itself as extremely topical and well-equipped for future challenges. In spite of the high importance of social responsibility and sustainability that goes hand in hand with the manufacturing and sales of food, with its wide variety of new products Anuga 2019 demonstrated impressively that the appreciation of food is above all a matter of taste. Offering products that comply with the ethical needs of the consumers that also provide them with the highest possible degree of enjoyment is a big challenge for food manufacturers and distributors. There is tough competition in this sector. They bear the entrepreneurial risk and thus deserve more political support to reconcile sustainability, profitability and the customers’ requirements.”
Christoph Minhoff, Chief Executive Director of the Federation of German Food and Drinks Industries (BVE), also drew a positive balance. “As the world’s largest and most important trade fair for food and beverages, Anuga is not only a platform for the export business of the German food industry, but also the leading global trade fair for innovations and trends within the food market. We are more innovative than any other branch of industry: Every year over 40,000 new products are introduced onto the market in Germany alone. The German food manufacturers were once again this year able to impressively demonstrate that they can already provide answers today as to how the future is going to taste. Here trends like “healthy and sustainable food” are not only further establishing themselves, sustainability is actually taking on a new dimension among foodstuffs. If the politicians want to support the industry with this development, they have to solve the existing, conflicting goals between the reduction of packing, fighting food waste and food safety instead of dictating agreements.”
Guido Zöllick, President of the DEHOGA German Association, continued: “In times that are exciting and challenging for the food service business, Anuga 2019 convinced with a unique mixture of exhibitors, valuable first-hand information, exciting trend analyses from all over the globe and an extensive, industry-relevant event programme on topical themes. True added value for the entrepreneurial success of today and tomorrow for a strong industry with an annual net turnover of almost Euro 90 billion. The DEHOGA Food Service Marketplace was once again the central meeting point for brand-name restaurant owners and medium-sized hospitality companies from Germany and Europe. Industry highlights additionally included the premiere of the dehogadigitalday, the 29th Professional Food Service Forum as well as the starting signal for the competition “Distinguished! The best German children’s menus” together with the Federal Minister of Food, Julia Klöckner. The successful outcome of the trade fair is further evidence of the high significance and great appeal of Anuga for the hospitality industry.”
Top buyers on board
The exhibitors were particularly impressed by the quality of the visitors. Countless buyers with high decision-making competence from the trade and food service attend the trade fair in Cologne. All of the important players of the TOP 10 food dealers in the world and the TOP 12 from Germany were represented. These included among others Walmart, Costco Wholesale, The Kroger Co., Metro AG, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., Edeka, Rewe Group, Penny, Lidl and Kaufland (Schwarz Group). Important online dealers like Amazon, LSG Group, E.Leclerc, Mercadona, Migros and SPC Groups were also present. In terms of the number of trade visitors, increases for Europe were particularly recorded from Great Britain, the Netherlands, Poland and the Ukraine. Significant increases from non-European countries were predominantly registered from Brazil, Japan, the USA and Russia.
More than just business
Anuga is not only the gate to the worldwide food and beverage world. With a diversified event and congress programme or special events like the Anuga Horizon 2050, this year the trade fair additionally set new impulses for the food industry of tomorrow more than ever before. The congress trio NEWTRITION X, E-Grocery Congress @Anuga and the Innovation Food Conference (iFood) featuring top international speakers offered an extensive pool of new information on trends, market opportunities, new technologies and the digitalisation of the industry. Furthermore, as a provider of knowledge and know-how, Anuga presented new and ongoing trends. These included for instance plant-based meat substitute products, alternative protein products based on peas, fava beans or insects and newly-interpreted product variants made of hemp. Beyond this, themes such as free-from, convenience, vegan, bio, halal and kosher also played an important role.
The next Anuga will take place from October 9 to 13, 2021.
