Italy’s top food fair “Cibus” opens to foreign markets. The biannual top food and beverage fair is gearing up for its 17th edition to take place in Parma in May with an eye on foreign markets because Italian food exports increased in Europe, Usa, Middle East and Asia.
With one in five ‘Made in Italy’ food products sold abroad, and almost 40% of the country’s food businesses currently operating on foreign markets, the sector remains a growing one even in times of crisis: in 2013, Italian food exports grew by 6.5% over the previous year, with 62.5% going to other European markets, 10.6% to the United States, 1.8% to Latin America, 1.5% to Australia, 1.7% to the Middle East, 5.3% to Asia and 0.7% to Southeast Asia.
Organized by national food-anddrink association Federalimentare and Parma Fairs, the event presented during last days, is slated to draw buyers and operators from around the world, with the overall objective of making Italian companies ever more projected towards foreign markets.
According to the latest data provided in September by national food industry association Federalimentare, Italian food exports in 2013 increased 8.1% over the same period last year and were worth 26.7 billion euros. In the first quarter of this year, for the first time, firms exporting foodstuffs overtook those producing exclusively for the domestic market.
In 2012 exports totaled 28.4 billion euros with an 8% growth from 2011, about 19% of the sector’s total revenues.
Italy’s top markets in 2013 remained Germany, France and the United States with a significant growth continuing across the Middle East and Asia.
In 2012, Italian food exports boomed in the Middle East – up 41.5% in the United Arab Emirates, 29.1% in Saudi Arabia and 38.5% in Turkey.
Italian food also sold well across Asian markets with exports to China up 20.6%, Japan 21.2% and Thailand 38.5%.
“Recent food export data remains positive, so Cibus 2014 is aptly placed to seek out every possibility of developing and supporting the export-oriented aspect of Italian businesses” said Federalimentare president Filippo Ferrua.
That is why Cibus 2014 will have a prize for the foreign chain that best promoted Made-in-Italy products and will welcome buyers from retail chains such as HeB (United States) or Loblaw (Canada). In another highlight, leading Us brand-builder Daymon Worldwide will set up a stand for what will be its first time at an Italian food fair, bringing foreign buyers and retailers with it.
During the last edition, over 2,300 companies, mostly Italian, participated in 2012 Cibus, professional visitors were 63,000 – 13,000 from 90 different countries.
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