The 'fairest' of them all
The food industry seems gung-ho at Anuga 2005.
Meera Nair looks at this juggernaut among all food fairs
When Wolfgang Kranz, Executive VP,
Koelnmesse GmbH said, "By
expanding the concept of ten
specialised fairs under one roof we have made
the world's leading food and beverage fair
even more transparent and clearly structured
than ever before," he wasn't exaggerating. A
total of 6294 exhibitors from 108 countries
presented their products and services at the
fair, covering a whopping exhibition area of
286,000 m2. Cologne, which hosted Anuga
for the 28th time, has the chief hallmarks of
diversity, internationality and quality.
Foreign companies accounted for 83 per
cent of the exhibitors with especially large
contingents coming from Italy (1069), Spain
(456), China (335) and France (225). An
increase in the exhibitors from Europe,
particularly Poland, as well as more suppliers
from Asia, Pacific region and the US was
another highlight. A special feature of Anuga
is that it has a good mixture of leading
suppliers and small and medium-sized
companies who use the fair as a central
information and ordering platform for the
wholesale and retail trade, the external
catering market and the new channels.
Moreover the specialised fair concept
introduced in 2003 has been a great success.
Anuga 2005 had specialised fairs for fine food,
gourmet, chilled food, meat, frozen food, dairy,
bread and bakery and hot beverages, drinks,
CateringTec and RetailTec. This concept also
reflected in the hall layout with each
specialised fair clearly marked with related
segments grouped into clusters.
Although some current trends in the food
industry did not have a separate exhibition
area at the fair, they were included in the
Anuga database. The Anuga trend themes
were as under: Organic products, health and
functional food, speciality products, own
brands, Kosher products, halal food, finger
food, and vegetarian food.
The German food industry has very high
expectations of the world's largest trade show
for food and beverages. It expects its flagship
trade fair to stimulate national and
international business and provide insights
into new trends. The German food industry
will go to great lengths to offer its customers
at home and abroad, strong products that
meet the complex expectations consumers
have in terms of modern foods.
As far as Germany is concerned, what
Jurgen Abraham, Chairman, Federal
Association of the German Food Industry
(BVE), expects from food retailers in Germany
is a willingness to work together with the food
industry to implement concepts that satisfy way and secure the companies' prospects for
future revenues.
In the German market, the sector has
been struggling with cautious consumer
spending for a long time as it searches for
ways to overcome the focus on price. The
results for the first half of 2005 make the
industry optimistic: Total turnover reached €
65 billion - that represents growth of 2.4 per
cent in nominal terms. Domestically, however,
the growth in turnover was much smaller
because of the high unemployment rate and
ongoing consumer reluctance. Turnover here
increased nominally by only 1.4 per cent to €
52 billion. Since manufacturers' prices fell by
0.1 per cent in this period, this signifies a real
growth of 1.3 per cent. The BVE chairman
has made an urgent appeal to any new
administration in Berlin to improve the
general framework conditions for marketing
food. That includes a clear policy of reform
that clarifies the income prospects of citizens
and companies alike and creates jobs. Only in
this way can the ongoing consumption and
investment slowdown in Germany be
reversed. Discussions about increasing the
value-added tax are not the appropriate
means for regaining the confidence of
consumers. Policymakers must at long last
systematically tackle the urgently needed
reforms for lowering non-wage labour costs,
making the labour market more flexible and
reducing bureaucracy, so that the economy in
Germany picks up speed once more. If the
largest national economy in Europe registers
growth again, the prospects in Europe as a
whole will improve as well.
More with this article
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What Indian exhibitors had to say
Times Food Processing Journal has some
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