News and press releases

Helping to internationalise Spanish food companies and opening opportunities abroad continues to be the maximum priority for Alimentaria. Therefore, the fair has started to promote its next edition across the world in order to identify and attract key market buyers.

So, in 2020, Alimentaria aims to reaffirm the levels of internationalisation reached during its previous edition, which welcomed 4,500 exhibiting companies, 1,000 of which came from 70 countries, and around 150,000 visitors, 30% of them international, from 156 countries.

It also aims to provide continuity to the more than 12,500 business meetings that took place among the 1,400 key buyers, importers and distributors in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the US which, together with other visitors with purchasing power, attended Alimentaria and Hostelco 2018.

For J. Antonio Valls, CEO of Alimentaria Exhibitions and director of Alimentaria, this data “confirms the international pulling power of the trade show and its efficient role when streamlining the exports of the companies in the sector”.

The collaboration agreements that Alimentaria maintains with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Food, the Federation of Food and Drinks Industries (FIAB in Spanish), and ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones, among other highly represented sectoral entities are what contribute to attracting exhibiting companies and international visitors.

Alimentaria 2020, together with Hostelco, is predicted to fill almost 100,000 m2 of exhibition space of the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona. Their offer will again be structured into different key sectors such as the meat industry (Intercarn), dairy (Interlact), preserves (Expoconser), sweets (Snacks, Biscuits & Confectionery); the Mediterranean diet, fresh produce, olive oils and vegetable oils (Mediterranean Foods), and Food Service (Restaurama). These also incorporate the new Alimentaria Trends trade show, which, in more than 4,500 m2 of exhibition space, will display trending produce sub-sectors such as Fine Foods, Organic Foods, Free From foods, Halal Foods and Functional Foods. Alongside all of these, Grocery Foods will join large food consumption companies.

For their part, International Pavilions will coordinate the entire international offering and Lands of Spain will coordinate the domestic production for the different autonomous communities of Spain.

As a new feature, the wine sector will begin a new phase in 2020 with its own project. Barcelona Wine Week was born from the spin-off of the Invertin trade show from Alimentaria to provide visibility to the international potential of Spanish wine. The new trade show will invite visitors on a unique tour of the wine map of Spain, and will be held from the 3-5 February 2020 at the Montjuic venue of Fira de Barcelona.

The innovative impulse and the gastronomic vocation will return to define the next edition of Alimentaria. For this reason, the activities of the trade show will promote innovation in the sector and will look to encourage the interrelation between the food, gastronomy and tourism industries.

In this regard, the synergies will multiply thanks to the joint organisation with Hostelco, the International Hotel and Restaurant Trade Show. For the second consecutive edition, both events will offer both the distribution and the Horeca channel the most complete and cross-sectional offer for the food, gastronomy and hotel and restaurant services industry, and will jointly organise activities of significant value added such as The Experience Live Gastronomy, a space in which workshops, gastronomy classes and cooking show will take place.

Similarly, The Alimentaria Hub, will return as the host of the Innoval and Best Awards Exhibitions, as well as the Food and Drink Business Meetings of Fiab, the International Conference on the Mediterranean Diet, The Nestlé Conference on Creating Shared Value, and the Digital Food Arena, a newly created area that will unite the most disruptive companies and the most cutting-edge start-ups in the sector and combine conference cycles with different exhibition zones.

Josep-Lluís Bonet, Honorary President of Freixenet and president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, continues again this year as head of the Alimentaria organising committee, which is supported by the new additions of José Miguel Herrero, CEO of the Food Industry of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Food (MAPA in Spanish); Neus Martínez, Director of Communications at Nestlé Spain; and Tomás Pascual Gómez-Cuétara, President of FIAB.

The other additions are Ignacio Ferrero, President of Idilla Foods, Javier Robles, Honorary President of Danone; Juan María Vieites; President of Anfaco / Cecopesca; Josep María Bonmatí, CEO of Aecoc; Silvio Elías, CEO of Ecoveritas; Mauricio García de Quevedo, CEO of Fiab; Gonzalo Guillén, CEO of Aceite del Sur-Coosur; José Carlos Lacasa, board member of Chocolates Lacasa; Antonio Llorens, President and CEO of Serunión Elior; Olga Martínez Pujol, Corporate Affairs Director of Mars Iberia and President of Produlce; María Naranjo, Division Head of Food, Wine and Gastronomy at ICEX; Jaime Rodríguez, President of Grupo Euromadi; Paulo Soares, Regional Managing Director southern Europe of Campofrío Food Group; Anna Bosch; CEO of Noel Alimentaria; and Josep Tejedo, CEO of Mercabarna.

In a new exercise of creativity, the emblem of Alimentaria, the classic egg icon, is inspired for its next edition at the Chicago Cloud Gate by the British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor. The image aims to reflect the fact that Alimentaria is “a living entity that interacts with the sectors and interrelates with its surroundings. Alimentaria as a reflection of the industry whose influence expands across everything that happens in the sector. An active mirror that projects and guides innovation, a motor for change and a continuous source of inspiration”, explains Valls.