1 October 2021
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Bord Bia has announced a return to trade show activity with a calendar of events across Europe this autumn, including a ministerial-led trade visit and in-person trade fair in Germany.
Virtual events also remain key to Bord Bia’s trade engagements at home and abroad. This week Bord Bia and 68 Irish prepared consumer food companies, ranging from large scale manufacturers to family businesses, will host over 350 virtual trade meetings with more than 100 trade buyers from all across Ireland and Great Britain, including senior representatives from M&S Ireland, Aramark and Tesco. The Prepared Consumer Foods Virtual Sourcing Fair, which takes place from September 29th-30th, is a key component of Bord Bia’s year-long programme of activity specifically developed to support the €2.5 billion Prepared Consumer Foods sector.
The PCF category includes meal solutions, confectionery,, non-alcoholic beverages, ingredients and value-added meat, seafood, and horticulture. Producers in this sector supply some of the world’s largest foodservice outlets, major grocery retailers across Europe, and beyond, and some of the biggest global restaurant chains.
In October, Minister of State with responsibility for Research and Development, Farm Safety, and New Market Development, Martin Heydon, TD will lead Bord Bia’s upcoming trade visit to Germany to coincide with Anuga, one of the largest international trade shows that takes place every second year. Anuga remains a crucial landmark on the global food industry calendar.
The trade visit will support the accelerated export-led recovery of Irish food and drink businesses in the Eurozone while also promoting the €13 billion sector to international buyers. This is the first in-person trade visit undertaken by the Minister of State following the EU-UK Trade Agreement and the onset of Covid-19.
Minister of State with responsibility for Research and Development, Farm Safety, and New Market Development, Martin Heydon, TD said:
“Structured engagements, both virtual and in-person, are more important than ever. They offer a real opportunity to communicate the premium quality of Ireland’s food and drink offering, and to the benefit of all those along the supply chain, particularly farmers as our primary producers. This is all part of our strategic response to the challenges the agri-food sector faces arising from the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit impacts and will be about strengthening opportunities for Irish exporting companies while also looking at how we can build on what is already there and diversify into new markets.”
Germany is Ireland’s fifth-largest export market for food and drink with an estimated export value of €801m in 2020 and an overall growth of 4%, despite the impact of the pandemic.
Bord Bia’s CEO, Tara McCarthy said:
“As the world reopens, the opportunity to meet face to face at international trade shows and drive business is incredibly important. These trade shows and trade visits are critical for the export-led recovery of the sector, not least because of the business potential involved for Irish companies trading within the EU, which represents 34% of total Irish food and drink exports.”
This relentless focus on recovery and market diversification is critical as we seek to trade our way through 2021 and beyond in more innovative ways than ever to deliver the additional €8bn in exports needed to meet the Irish government’s ambitious target of €21bn in Irish agri-food exports by 2030.”
Eleven Irish food companies from across the meat and dairy sectors will participate at Anuga in Cologne.
Bord Bia is organising and coordinating the Irish presence at a host of other European trade fairs for retail and food service channels the coming months. These include Sirha in Lyon, France this month where the focus will be on food service; seafood show Conxemar in Spain along with Tuttofood in Italy, both in October; Food Ingredients Europe in November and the largest private label show, PLMA, in the Netherlands in December.
Calendar of Bord Bia events
Sirha
Dates: September 23rd-27th
Location: Lyon, France
Description: Bord Bia has co-ordinated Ireland’s presence at the leading French foodservice fair, Sirha which takes place in Lyon, France. Sirha is a world-renowned event for the foodservice and hospitality sector which takes place every two years in Lyon.Conxemar
Dates: October 5th-7th
Location: Vigo, Galicia, Spain
Description: The Southern European markets of Spain, Portugal and Italy are all core export markets for Irish shellfish companies and this international frozen seafood show is an ideal meeting point for the entire seafood processing sector: Wholesalers, importers, exporters, transformers, manufacturers, distributors, cold storage, machinery, auxiliary industry (cooling, packaging, plastics, etc.)
The exhibition is consolidated as one of the fourth most important shows in the world, with 37,000 visitors in 2019.
Spain is the 4th largest market for Ireland’s seafood exports in value terms with 52.6€ Million exported in 2020 (38.8€M primary seafood and 13.8€M Value Added Seafood)Anuga
Dates: October 9th-13th
Location: Cologne, Germany
Description: At Anuga, the Irish food and drink industry will participate under Bord Bia’s Origin Green stands within the meat and dairy halls. Several client companies attending Anuga this year have attained Origin Green Gold Membership, highlighting the ever-increasing importance of sustainability and the efforts by some leading exporters to do more in this space. This year, Anuga is focusing on the mega trends including sustainability, health, convenience and digitalisation.Tuttofood
Dates: October 22nd-26th
Location: Milan, Italy
Description: Tuttofood takes place in Milan from October 22nd-26th and is an international B2B trade show dedicated to the food and drink industry, allowing exporters to showcase their products to national and international markets.
In 2020, total Irish exports to Italy were valued at €301 million, with beef accounting for over one third of these exports at €167 million.FiEurope
Dates: November 30th – December 2nd
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
Description: FiEurope offers Irish companies a much larger platform to showcase their innovative products and solutions.PLMA
Dates: December 14th-15th
Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Description: PLMA’s annual “World of Private Label” International Trade Show brings retailers and manufacturers together to help them find new products, network, and discover new ideas that will help their private label programmes succeed and grow.
