Trade shows and conferences are essential to many traders in the fresh produce industry. They are a great chance to showcase your products, meet new clients and catch up with old friends. In 2019 FreshPlaza attended many of the events on the calendar and created our famous photo reports.
Fruit Logistica 2019 was all about sustainability and Brexit. Sustainability featured in almost every stand. The reduction of plastics was high on the agenda.. It was very well attended this year, but again exhibitors in the city cube were disappointed by the though-flow of people.
Asia Fruit Logistica was in doubt this year as the continuing protests had stand holders and visitors asking if it was safe to visit Hong Kong. A few weeks prior to the event the organisers asked all of the stand holders if they would like the show to go ahead or not, it was decided to go ahead with the event. Although visitor numbers were down and there were a few empty stands, overall the feedback was that it was a good show and only the people who were serious about doing business turned up.
Fruit Attraction in Madrid increases in size each year and 2019 saw
1,800 exhibitors from 130 countries spread over eight halls were ready to present themselves to 90,0000 visitors. A new record for the event which now takes place from Tuesday to Thursday, rather than starting on the Wednesday and finishing on the Friday.
The Global Berry Congress took place in Rotterdam in March, with good international turnout and high quality speakers who spoke about re-shaping the future of the berry offer and opportunities in the different markets around the world.
In April Thessaloniki hosted Freskon. The Greek exhibition is a great opportunity for the companies who cannot attend Fruit Logistica or Fruit Attraction, to still get their produce and brands out there. Also in April MedFEL was held in Perpignan, the fair was centered around debates on the future of the fruit and vegetable sector. MacFrut which took place in Italy in May saw a slow first day, with visitor numbers peaking on the second day. TuttoFood was held in Milan and exhibitors lamented a drop in the number of visitors and the fact that Macfrut was organized during the same days.
In June the London Produce Show took place with a record number of visitors and many interesting seminars, presentations and industry tours. A first this year was the Global Grape summit, a very well-attended event.
For decades, the World Food Moscow Trade show has been held in the Expocentre Moscow. This year, however, for the first time, it took place in the Moscow Crocus Expo center.
North America
This year's CPMA trade show in April, was the largest in Montreal’s history with over 300 exhibitors and about 4,000 attendees. The Viva Fresh Expo took place in San Antonio, TX. The three-day event finished with a trade show that gave 168 exhibitors an opportunity to show their produce. The West Coast Produce Expo in California was the next up in the US calendar. It was a two-day event that started off with a golf tournament, farm tour and opening reception on Friday.
PMA Fresh Summit was held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California in October. The show attracted a record-breaking 24,000 attendees. This was the second year the show was held on Friday and Saturday which seems to result in a more balanced attendance as opposed to a Saturday/Sunday show.
North America's last trade show of the year, the New York Produce Show was held at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. Holding a produce show in NYC during the holiday season is guaranteed to make for a good turnout. At the same time, it’s a challenging week for produce people to be away from the office with less than two weeks to go until Christmas.
South America
The World Avocado Congress was held in Medellin, Colombia. The event surpassed the eighth edition of the held in Lima four years ago by increasing the number of companies exhibiting from 12 to 72 and welcomed 3,247 attendees from 50 countries.
Australia
The Australian Mango Conference was held in Darwin in May,
it featured a range of presentations from growers, exporters, government departments, wholesalers, research scientists and mango marketers. May also saw the Australian Banana Industry Congress where 200 delegates from all across Australia and even as far away as Ecuador attended the event.
Hort Connections 2019 took place in Melbourne in June with a record number of stand holders and delegate This is third time the event has been organised jointly between PMA A-NZ and AUSVEG, according to feed back from attendees it is better each year.
Asia
The Asia Fresh Expo took place in Shanghai, the event included lectures on banana cultivation, preservation and post-harvest ripening. Suppliers could also meet at the match-making event called the 8th Fruit Reverse Purchasing Meeting.
South Africa
PMA Fresh Connections South Africa, doing business in Africa was a strong focus at the conference. Price discovery and the invaluable role of the fresh produce markets was a theme that recurred and a number of delegates expressed their appreciation of the existence of these outlets giving them an alternative to retailers.