February 7 2006, 11:03

The results of Fruit Logistica exhibition contented the world produce business

The world's largest event of the international produce business, an international exhibition Fruit Logistica attracted more than 35,000 visitors from 112 countries to Berlin on February 2nd-4th 2006. All previous attendance records were broken, with an increase in visitor numbers of more than 20 per cent compared to the pervious year.

The exhibition traditionally showcased the entire range of products and services from around the world and from every stage in the value chain, and was attended by leading decision-makers from every continent.

Although the signing of contracts is not the primary aim of exhibitors at Fruit Logistica, research by organizer Messe Berlin revealed that substantially more deals were concluded at the event than in 2005. It is estimated that more than $100 million worth of deals were tied up in the three days. The 1,611 exhibitors from 64 countries occupied 60,000 square meters in the exhibition halls. This year some 86 per cent of the exhibitors and more than three quarters of visitors came from abroad. The preliminary poll showed that ninety-six per cent of the visitors described the commercial results of their visit to the fair as positive.

To our regret, Ukraine, as well as other CIS countries, was poorly represented on the exhibition. Still, the number of visitors from our country increased much this year compared to 2005; the information about the exhibition provided by the Agricultural Marketing Project and "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal played an important role here. The representatives of the Agricultural Marketing Project managed to speak with some Ukrainian visitors; they were very pleased with the trip results. The other countries' representatives were also satisfied with the results mentioning the continuous growth of standards and the visitors' quantity attending the exhibition.

It is pleasant to see that the exhibition participants showed a vivid interest to Ukraine and were actively inquiring about the possibilities of the Ukrainian produce market. Many of the participants and exhibitors tentatively confirmed their participation in the third international conference - exhibition "Produce business of Ukraine 2006" to be held late November - early December 2006 in Kyiv.

Read more about the exhibition in the next issues of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" weekly journal of the produce business of Ukraine.