The Fruit Attraction Organisers’ Committee expects a 10% growth in the next edition

10 October 2019

The Organisers’ and Advisory Committee of Fruit Attraction , International Trade Show for the Fruit and Vegetable Industry, met yesterday in Madrid. During the meeting they analysed the main organisational aspects of the next edition, organised by IFEMA and FEPEX. The event will be held from Tuesday 22 to Thursday 24 October.

The director of the fair, Raúl Calleja, reported on the latest participation figures for the eleventh edition, with an expected increase of 10% compared to 2018. Exhibition space will exceed 55,000 square metres and the number of exhibitors will rise to 1,800. Likewise, the visitor numbers will exceed 90,000, from 130 countries.

A broad programme of parallel activities and conferences was also discussed during the session, which, due to their numbers, will take place in different venues. Fruit Forum 4 and 6 will host industry-themed seminars such as one on Brexit, entitled “Brexit in the fruit and vegetables sector, vision of Spain and the United Kingdom”, scheduled for Wednesday, October 23 in the afternoon. The "Biofruit Congress" will address characteristics and trends in the consumption of organic products, while "Technology Attraction" will analyse innovation and technology as means for improving competitiveness. The line-up will also include a seminar called "Food Myths: Something always sticks”, on the morning of Tuesday 22, the“ Workshop on sustainable containers and packaging”, and a seminar on “Water management in fruit and vegetable production”, on Thursday 24.  In addition, parallel commercial and sectoral activities will take place in the Innova 4 and 5 Forums and in the Smart Agro Forum. This time, FRUIT ATTRACTION will also have a specific forum for the live flower and plant sector, "Flower and Garden Forum", addressing the challenges and opportunities for the flower market in supermarket chains in Spain among other topics.

The Committee also analysed the status of the international guest program , which will bring more than a thousand buyers from all over the world to the fair . This programme, financed by IFEMA and operational since the first edition in 2009, allows exhibitors in the area of production to choose buyers from outside Spain to invite to the fair to boost their business.  There is also a 'Guest Country Importer’ initiative, which is organised in collaboration with ICEX. This time the guest countries are China, India and Singapore. These countries will be featured in the World Fresh Forum on Wednesday, 23 and Thursday, 24 October, a business networking space that will help to forge business relationships between these countries to take advantage of business opportunities.

The meeting also heard about the success of the Accelera Awards for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which have received 53 candidate projects, the winner of which will be chosen on Thursday, October 24. These awards are aimed at participating companies that present the best products and service projects for the fruit and vegetable industry, based on criteria like innovation, sustainability, applied technology and knowledge.

The meeting approved the appointment of Jorge Brotons - president of FEPEX, FEXPHAL (Alicante) and SAT Bonnysa - as the new president of the Organisers’ Committee of Fruit Attraction, who will take over from José Gandía - president of the SAT group Royal, of the Marketing Committee of FEPEX and member of Asociafruit, at the next edition in 2020. Gandía received unanimous recognition for his work in this position, which he has held since the first edition, highlighting his commitment to the fair, the promotion of the fruit and vegetable sector, contributing his experience, initiative and international vision to the project.

The Fruit Attraction Organisers’ Committee is composed mainly of representatives of IFEMA, FEPEX, member associations of the Federation, and of distributors’, wholesalers’ and market associations. Organisers’ Committee meetings coincide with those of the Advisory Committee, which also involve promotional representatives of the autonomous communities involved in the fair.

The eleventh edition of Fruit Attraction will take place from Tuesday, 22 to Thursday, 24 October in Halls 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 at Feria de Madrid, from 9.30 am to 7 pm.

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