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Leading international fair for food and drink technology posts excellent results
Anuga FoodTec continues to grow
Growth in exhibitors, visitors and international participation
Industry’s willingness to invest sets positive tone
Organisers and exhibitors reported an excellent event as Anuga FoodTec 2006 drew to a close on Friday, 7th April. The food processing industry’s increased willingness to invest was clearly apparent during the four-day international trade fair for food and drink technology. Trade visitors to Anuga FoodTec numbered around 39,000 — a rise of 13 per cent. With approximately 55 per cent of visitors coming from abroad — from a total of 146 countries — Anuga FoodTec retained its position as the leading information and procurement platform for the international food industry. “Anuga FoodTec is unique as the only event worldwide that comprehensively addresses all areas of the food industry,” says Wolfgang Kranz, Executive Vice President of Koelnmesse. “It has been successfully positioned on the basis of this approach. The very high number of exhibitors and visitors this year shows that we have also been successful in broadening the fair’s appeal to new target groups and that the event holds further potential for growth.”
“The importance of Anuga FoodTec as the leading show for innovations and a forum for the exchange of expertise has been impressively underlined,” states Dr. Reinhard Grandke, Chief Executive of the German Agricultural Society (DLG). “The fair has shown that the exhibiting companies are well equipped to meet the complex demands of the food industry and that they have the appropriate technical solutions to hand. The high level of expertise, the wide Seite 2/range of new products and the great interest among international trade visitors 3 give the sector good reason to look to the future with confidence, as well as underscoring the key role of Anuga FoodTec as the central business platform for food and beverage technology.”
Approximately 39,000 trade visitors from 146 countries attended Anuga FoodTec 2006, an increase of 13 per cent on the previous event. The proportion of visitors from abroad also rose slightly, up by two per cent to 55 per cent. Alongside experts from the EU countries, the trade fair primarily attracted more trade visitors from the growing markets of eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North and South America. The substantial numbers of foreign visitors confirm the significance of Anuga FoodTec as an international trading hub.
Anuga FoodTec once again also showed slight growth in the number of exhibitors. An increased area of around 100,000 m2 was occupied by 1,178 participating exhibitors from 45 countries (1,125 exhibitors from 44 countries in 2003) from 4th to 7th April 2006. Of these, 560 companies came from outside Germany.
For the first time, Anuga FoodTec occupied not only the existing Eastern Halls 4, 5 and 10 but also the newly built Halls 6, 7 and 9, which were praised by exhibitors and visitors alike. “Despite its size, the event seemed even more compact and clearly laid out,” says Kranz. “All of the halls were equally popular.”
Alongside the international scope, the visitors’ decision-making authority and the wide range of sectors represented were viewed as key criteria for the fair’s success. Managers from technical and commercial organisations, the service sector, the trade and plant construction came to Anuga FoodTec to trade information. According to preliminary results of a representative survey, more 3 than 80 per cent of the trade visitors are involved in making investment and purchasing decisions, either solely or in an advisory capacity. Almost 70 per cent of those surveyed rated their trade fair visit as good or very good and have already decided to come back in 2009.
With its cross-over approach, Anuga FoodTec is the only process-orientated trade fair in the world to cover all types of raw materials and aspects of processing, packaging, hygiene, storage and distribution in food and drinks production. Diverse technical innovations are demonstrated in new contexts, so that solutions and technologies that were originally not developed for a particular sector can become applicable elsewhere.
The increasing consumer desire for fresh products that nevertheless have a long shelf life, and the increasing degree of convenience in almost all areas of food, are putting the focus on new technologies. Modified atmosphere packaging and the high-pressure treatment of foods are setting new standards here and in relation to hygiene and quality assurance. Target group-specific solutions and simple handling dominate the innovation-rich area of product packaging. In focus at the moment are children and the 60+ generation, for whom packaging with additional functions and individual designs has been developed.
In the light of the growing complexity of food and the requirement for the most hygienic manufacturing and processing conditions possible, automation and robotics are playing an increasingly important role. The intelligent combination of various technologies such as automatic image recognition and evaluation in conjunction with industrial robots ensures consistent product quality, absolute hygiene and a high processing throughput.
These trends were also addressed in the supporting programme and the special shows for Anuga FoodTec, meeting with great interest on the part of the visitors. The Anuga FoodTec Forums, which were coordinated by the DLG, were very well attended. These featured symposia offered by renowned research institutes and speakers such as the DLG and the KIN Institute. Topics included robotics, dairy technology, modern extruder technology and developments in the processing of liquids and liquid textures.
The International Fruit Juice Week (the 46th of its kind) took place in parallel with Anuga FoodTec for the fourth time. Numerous high-ranking participants from the national and international fruit juice industry came to Cologne at the invitation of the organiser, confructa medien GmbH.
The coveted European FoodTec Award for innovative technologies was presented once again at Anuga FoodTec, on 4th April 2006. This prize is presented by the DLG in cooperation with the trade journals European Dairy Magazine, Deutsche Milchwirtschaft, Fleischwirtschaft, Fleischwirtschaft international and Lebensmitteltechnik. Five entrants were presented with the European FoodTec Award in gold, and three with a silver award.
The Anuga FoodTec special shows were also well received. The “Robotik-Pack- Line” (robotic packaging line), a network of top-class technology partners, demonstrated how sausages can be fully automatically produced and packaged under virtually real-life manufacturing conditions. Visitors were also invited to a hands-on special show called “Senior Special” that addressed the issue of packaging. The show was staged by Koelnmesse in cooperation with a leading specialist in packaging design and development. Here, trade visitors had the chance to discover at first hand the problems that senior citizens face when dealing with everyday packaging. The Snack Academy, an initiative by the trade magazines Baking and Biscuit International,Brot+backwaren, Hleb+wipetschka and the publisher f2m foodmultimedia GmbH, presented new products for the snack market, new techniques and technologies for the baked goods industry and information on technical and technological advances in the baked goods industry.
Anuga FoodTec is jointly organised by Koelnmesse GmbH and the DLG. It takes place every three years, corresponding to the innovation cycle within the sector. The next Anuga FoodTec will be held from 10th to 13th March 2009.
The Cologne FoodTec Congress, to be held for the fourth time from 28th to 30th March 2007, forms the thematic bridge between Anuga FoodTec 2006 and Anuga FoodTec 2009. Taking a cross-sector, cross-technology approach, the Congress will focus on the relevant aspects of food processing and will thus create a wealth of synergies and promote interdisciplinary dialogue. The DLG, confructa medien GmbH, the Society of German Food Technologists e.V. (GDL) and Koelnmesse will present an attractive programme with a top-class congress and an accompanying foyer exhibition in 2007.
Anuga FoodTec in figures A total of 1,178 companies from 45 countries, 48 per cent of whom came from outside Germany, participated in Anuga FoodTec 2006, occupying a gross exhibition space of 100,000 m˛. The participants included 575 exhibitors and 43 additionally represented companies from Germany as well as 504 exhibitors and 56 additionally represented companies from abroad. Including estimates for the last day of the fair, Anuga FoodTec attracted around 39,000 trade visitors from some 146 countries, approximately 21,500 of whom came from abroad.
Anuga FoodTec 10th to 13th March 2009 Cologne FoodTec Congress 28th to 30th March 2007
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