Gateway to Latin America

Helping SMEs internationalize the food and openning opportunities abroad to food and drink Spanish. With this strategic objective becomes Alimentaria which provides schedule in four days over 10,000 business meetings between exhibitors and 800 key buyers of import, distribution, retail and Horeca channel 78 countries inviting them directly through different programs.

The origin of these selected buyers shows that while Europe remains a priority area for export, the food industry is committed to consolidate its presence in Latin America, growing in North America and come into force in emerging markets mainly in Asia.

However, the power of international call Alimentaria is much higher. The great Barcelona event again expected to exceed 40,000 foreign professionals, representing 30% of total visitors. Knowing news, find suppliers and close deals for the import and distribution are the main reasons for these professionals to go from 25 to 28 April at the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona.

More than half of these international visitors (21,000) came from European countries, destination of 70.5% of total Spanish food exports. It also foresees the attendance of nearly 10,000 visitors in the Americas with Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and the US in the lead, confirming Alimentaria as an effective gateway to new markets across the Atlantic thanks to the linguistic and cultural proximity. It is also expected to increase by 5% the number of Asian visitors compared to 2014, exceeding 6,000 professionals. Spanish for Spanish food industry and beverages, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan are preferred when boost and diversify food exports markets.

Agendas interviews

To carry out the programs of internationalization, Food goes hand in hand with organizations such as ICEX Spain Export and Investment, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA, the Spanish Federation of Industries Food and Beverage (IFLA), the internationalized Association of Industrial Companies (AMEC) and the Agency for the Competitivitat COMPANY (ACCIÓ) of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

In this sense, Alimentaria has increased by 35% its investment to attract a greater number of key international buyers through its Hosted Buyers program. The fair facilitates contact between exhibitors and these professionals selected through a virtual platform to schedule appointments and business meetings to be held in the framework of The Alimentaria Hub. This strong commitment to go outside materializes with the presence of more than 800 hosted buyers invited by the organization, 60% more than the 497 who attended in 2014. In this year the figure 150 buyers include Intervin Business Meetings, which enables the participating wineries maintain rounds of interviews with importers, distributors and wine operators interested in discovering the enormous diversity and quality of Spanish wines.

European countries that hosted buyers join these business meetings are UK (20), Germany (15), France (15), Netherlands (15) and Italy (7), among others. From Asia, the largest delegations will be invited 62 Chinese, Thailand (18), Taiwan (12), Philippines (11) and Malaysia (11). While the American continent 70 American buyers, 30 Mexicans, 30 Brazilian and 25 Canadians are expected. Meanwhile, Chile, Colombia, Peru or Costa Rica individually bring a dozen professionals to these business meetings.

Meanwhile ICEX Spain Export and Investments and FIAB organized the eighth edition of the Distribution with Foreign Purchasers, Alimentaria Food & Drink Business Meetings (F & D BM) with the support of MAGRAMA and the fair itself. These meetings are open to export food businesses may hold interviews with more than 120 buyers from up to 40 countries. They include representatives from key markets in Asia, Latin America, North America, Africa and the Middle East.

Another opportunity for internationalization is the Brokerage Event proposed ACCIO and the Enterprise Europe Network, an event with interviews to narrow trade, technology transfer or cooperation between companies and technology centers agreements. Of the 563 participating companies, 181 are international from 25 countries and are expected to perform more than 600 bilateral meetings.

Parallel to accompany the internationalization providing knowledge ICEX Spain will host “Coffee with experts” who try markets wines and gourmet food products in Indonesia, US, UK and UAE, in addition to electronic markets. For its part specialists in international trade in CaixaBank they will offer an advisory service to export and analysis of foreign business opportunities for food businesses in Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, USA Morocco, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates; China or Colombia.

A thousand foreign exhibitors

Alimentaria 2016 will also be an effective gateway to the Spanish market for more than thousand international companies (25%) exhibiting at the fair and hope to contact wholesalers and representatives of distribution, specialized trade, the foodservice and national Horeca channel as well as with professionals from other countries.

More than half of that thousand foreign companies are European, led by Italy (132), Portugal (41) and United Kingdom (32). Asian countries are represented by nearly 300 companies from China (123), Korea (22) and Thailand (12), among other states. Meanwhile, Latin America brings a hundred brands to the event, adding signatures Mexico (22), Argentina (16) and Ecuador (15) among other countries in the area.

Alimentaria 2016 also adds new exhibitors from emerging areas. Companies from countries such as Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia show products booming in North Africa, with more than twenty companies present in each country, while companies in Romania and Poland are the main representatives of Eastern Europe with almost thirty brands.

In addition to the international trading companies offer different rooms divided by the Alimentaria, the center to learn about the flavors, new food and drink products from other countries will be the International Pavilion bringing together a large number of foreign holdings.
 
New target: the halal market

Finally, Alimentaria display market potential halal, ie, products and services according to Islam, the agri-food sector. Halal certification is a prerequisite for market foods in Muslim-majority countries, a market of more than 1,700 million consumers worldwide that moves 500,000 million euros, of which 20,000 million in Europe and 800 in Spain passport . Alimentaria will be a supermarket with halal products, a journey with trends and export experiences of companies in this segment and show cooking by chef Pedro Corredor, as the Spanish restoration can also find business opportunities in this market linked to the growth in the number Muslim tourists who visit us.
 
Source: Alimentaria