32nd Macfrut officially inaugurated
According to Renzo Piraccini, President of Cesena Fiera; “Things are looking good thanks to plenty of positive signs. The preview event of the Macfrut 3.2 edition raised huge interest with 8,000 participants. This year, the number of exhibitors has risen from 800 to more than 1,000, and one out of five is from abroad, representing 30 foreign countries. A total of 350 buyers will be attending the event and the exhibition area has increased from 20,000 square metres in the previous edition, to 33,000 square metres at the Rimini Expo Centre."
"Exports have increased by 10% on last year and, after several years of crisis, household consumption of fruit and vegetables seems to be growing steadily (+3%). With regard to exports, the fruit and vegetable sector ranks in second place, preceded only by the wine industry. I believe that we can work at a global level in this industry to promote Italian products. We need more drive and a pragmatic approach but we are capable of this." said Piraccini.
The ribbon cutting ceremony was performed by Andrea Olivero, the Italian Deputy Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, who thanked all the organisers for facing a bold challenge with Macfrut.
Deputy Minister Andrea Olivero said that the partnership between Cesena and Rimini was crutial, "The partnership shows great courage, with an eye to the future and is certainly the path to take in order to be competitive and keep up with the times. In recent years, important work has also been carried out in the field of innovation, paying attention to quality and promoting consumption. Moreover, the new feature added this year, namely, the organisation of show cooking initiatives featuring renowned chefs, plays a crucial role in showing the world the importance of our Mediterranean diet."
"Things started well for the agricultural sector at the beginning of 2015, yet there is a lot more work to be done. We need to improve some of the phytosanitary barriers, increase the aggregation of production, and focus especially on logistics. High energy costs are heavily affecting some of our businesses. Together with Europe, we need to make all our resources available, so that Italy can play its part in the international market."
For more information:
Jessica Sabatini
Macfrut c/o Fruitecom Srl
Tel.: +39-059-7863892
Email: jessica.sabatini@fruitecom.it