MILAN, Italy — Cibus 2018 opens today 7 to 10 May in Parma (Italy), organized by Fiere di Parma and Federalimentare. The event is a celebrated international food and drink trade fair that aims towards bringing in the leading global manufacturers to showcase their best products, reveal emerging trends as well as discuss the challenges facing the industry.
Cibus promises a packed four-day program with more than 63,000 industry insider expected to attend.
The food industry turnover reached 137 billion euros, showing a growth of 3.8%; exports grew by over 6% and now amount to a total of 41 billion euros, 32 billion of which were for finished products (2017 data, Federalimentare and CibusExport Observatory).
With food consumption still weak in Italy, exports become increasingly more important. Exports are growing in all areas; there is finally a recovery of exports to Russia, Spain and South America, while there continues to be very strong growth in North America and Asia.
The best-performing products in 2017 were again cheeses, deli meats, confectionery and sparkling wines, with special flours, ready meals, dietary preparations, spirits and mineral waters showing good rates of growth.
In the Year of Italian Food, the agri-food sector will be celebrating the results achieved and will present new products to the 19th edition of Cibus. 3,100 exhibitors will be attending (100 more than in the 2016 edition); over 135,000 sqm of exhibition space (an increase of 5,000 sqm in comparison to the 2016 edition thanks to the construction of a new temporary pavilion); 80,000 professional visitors are expected, 20% of whom from abroad and, among the latter, 2,500 top buyers; there will also be about 1300 journalists, the leading Italian newspapers and TV channels as well as specialized magazines.
A selection of 100 of the most innovative products will be displayed in the Cibus Innovation Corner, a new exhibition and meeting area.
There will be even more chefs cooking new products for visitors to taste, both at the different stands and in the Food Courts dedicated to typical regional products. The wide range of designation of origin products will be displayed by the protection Consortia in the AICIG (Italian Association of Geographical Indication Consortia) area.
Current food trends will emerge from the exhibition and the conferences: the continued growth of health products, but also of ready meals; consumer demand focus on both premium products and low cost ones.
Through round table discussions, conferences, seminars, workshops and talks, Cibus will provide an opportunity to address the most relevant current issues: biotechnologies and scientific research in the food sector; innovation and sustainability; prevention of food waste; fake news in the food sector; promotion of Italian products abroad; the scourge of Italian sounding; physical stores and online sales, and what the store of the future will be like; marketing frontiers in stores; novelty foods (insects and cultivated meat); where packaging ends up; chefs as influencers; and more.
