Exhibitors will come from more than 50 countries and represent all stages of the meat chain: slaughtering, dismembering, processing, packaging, sales and logistics will all be represented at the trade show, which runs from 7 to 12 May 2016.
The number of exhibitors has risen by 6% since the last instalment of IFFA in 2013, when 966 exhibitors were present at the Frankfurt show.
“IFFA continues to grow and we are delighted to welcome more exhibitors than ever before,” said Wolfgang Marzin, chairman of the board of management of Messe Frankfurt – the organiser behind IFFA. “Under the motto ‘Meet the Best’, Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre will be the focal point of the global meat industry for the coming six days. I am looking forward to an IFFA that provides impressive confirmation of its position as the leading international trade fair for the sector.”
‘Driving force’
Around 62% of the companies taking part in IFFA this year are based outside of Germany, a 5% increase compared to 2013.
IFFA is the driving force for the national and international meat industry,” said Richard Clemens, managing director of the Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association of the VDMA – a Germany engineering body. “The propensity to invest in the sector is high and our expectations of IFFA 2016 are correspondingly optimistic.”
Targeted investment
The digitalisation of the butchery trade is one area of IFFA that will be explored during the trade show. Early estimates from the Germany Butchers’ Association (Deutscher Fleischer-Verband – DFV), shows revenues in the trade stabilised in 2015 with total sales estimated to reach $16.3bn last year (FACT CHECKING with IFFA).
DFV’s president, Heinz-Werner Suess, said IFFA presents the best opportunity to butchers to “obtain all the information required to make precisely targeted, future-oriented investments.”