Alimentaria 2012

Alimentaria, the International Food and Drinks Exhibition, will return to Barcelona 26–29 March 2012. The event's Organising Committee has now been established – although new additions with ties to specific sectors are anticipated. This body will set the guidelines for the show in preparation for the event. The trade fair is warming up for a new edition that will focus all its strategic attention on competitiveness, international expansion and brands in the food and drinks industry.

Josep-Lluís Bonet, chairman of Fira de Barcelona and Freixenet, once again assumes the role of president of the Alimentaria 2012 Organising Committee. The committee includes new members Bernard Meunier, managing director of Nestlé España, and Horacio González Alemán, secretary general of the FIAB (Spanish acronym for the Spanish Food and Drink Industry Federation).

With this edition Alimentaria 2012 will once again be the trade show which attracts the sector's major global operators. With an anticipated 4,000 companies – one third of them from abroad – and 140,000 buyers – 25 % international, the show will confirm its position as an international hub for business transactions. This is how the show's exhibitors view it, with 60 % indicating their intention to expand into the international market before too long. To this end, the show includes the International Projects, more than 8,000 business meetings to promote international expansion for Spanish food and drinks companies.

The Spanish food and drinks industry has demonstrated its ability to withstand the current economic environment. With 439,000 workers, it ended 2010 with turnover of 85 billion euros and a 13-billion-euro export surplus (period January-October 2010), 10 % more than in 2009. This demonstrates the competitiveness of Spanish companies, which have not only held on to their traditional markets in the European Union, but are also successfully exploring new markets such as the U.S.A., China and India. Among the sectors with the highest growth are olive oil, meat products and wine, all of which will be represented at Alimentaria 2012.

Two new exhibition halls

Building on the success of concentrating the entire show in Fira de Barcelona's Gran Vía Venue at the previous edition – a move rated very highly by exhibitors and professional visitors – Alimentaria 2012, which has already given the green light to promoting the show, will also feature two new exhibition halls, 5 and 7. This will make it possible to provide an additional 40,000 gross m2 of exhibition space. The next edition of Alimentaria expects to occupy close to 100,000 m2 with product offerings and activities focusing on business, promotion, gastronomy, R&D&I, nutrition and health.