Macfrut 2019, Italy looks abroad

More than 1,500 invited buyers from around the world and an online platform to facilitate the meeting between supply and demand in Rimini, from May 8 to 10. This is Macfrut 2019, where the horticultural product becomes international.

Less than a month after the 36th edition of Macfrut, the only international fair for the fruit and vegetable sector, which will take place in Rimini from May 8 to 10, the numbers increase: 8 pavilions, more than 1,100 exhibitors, 25% of which foreigners, 1,500 invited buyers from around the world, to which are added about sixty events, including conventions, meetings and conferences, testimony of a fair very rich in content.

The key point of the event, which for years has been investing in this direction, is internationalization. The Italian fruit and vegetable sector is too dependent on the internal market, understanding as such, the European market, since today, selling in Germany or the Netherlands no longer means exporting “- says Renzo Piraccini, President of Macfrut.

“I think that, at least for the products that allow it, the future lies in increasing the emerging markets. One of the most interesting is the area of ​​the Persian Gulf, which today represents less than 2% of Italian fruit and vegetable exports and I think it can give much more “- he concludes.

If there is a central theme for the growth of the Italian fruit and vegetable sector, it is the development of the international market. And here Macfrut plays a key role, in its commitment to the front of internationalization: the promotional tour of the 2019 edition saw some thirty missions of presentation all over the world, the foreign exhibitors in Rimini will be 25%, among which highlights a pavilion dedicated entirely to Africa. 200 companies from 14 countries will participate: Angola, Benin, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia. Among the novelties at the international level, we must highlight the first time that Cuba will participate with 5 companies, Proecuador with 8 large companies, and the Mexican state of Zacatecas with 6 companies.

Thanks to the proven synergy with ICE Agency, 1500 buyers from all over the world have been invited (only 250 years ago), with important confirmations from Eastern Europe, the Persian Gulf (Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar), India and the Southeast Asian. Buyers who have registered with Macfrut can benefit from a very good opportunity “Macfrut Hosted Buyers Program”: from the first week of April the B2B platform will be open, an online system in which each operator can set appointments with the most interesting exhibitors to create a personalized agenda. The organizers will send the final agenda during the first days of May, then each registered operator can print their ticket, program and agenda.

In addition to the benefits of the Macfrut custom organization and the possibility of being hosted, the member buyers will have access to the VIP Business Lounge area, a reserved and prepared area in the Rimini Fiera pavilions where they can benefit from Wi-Fi free, interpreting service, wardrobe and other services.