Speaking exclusively to GlobalMeatNews, Meat Attraction sales manager Almudena de Castro explained how the show has progressed in its second year.
“In quantitative terms, success is measured by the participation achieved. We are pleased to say that, despite its short history, in this second edition we already recorded some very satisfactory figures, with 163 exhibiting companies representing almost 400 brands from 16 countries around the world.”
According to De Castro, the fair attracted 10,069 professionals from 43 countries. “This represents a 28.9% increase over the figures for the previous fair, which highlights the industry’s potential, as well as the broad international dimension of Meat Attraction,” she said.
The Spanish meat industry has long been overlooked, claimed De Castro, which was part of the reason the event was set up. “The meat industry is the fourth-biggest sector in Spain. Yet, until now, it lacked a commercial and business space of its own. In line with the strategy of IFEMA … which organises specialised trade fairs to provide solutions to different economic sectors, we decided to create this new platform, so that the meat industry has an appropriate showcase to make its product range more visible.”
IFEMA is collaborating with the National Association of Meat Industries of Spain, ANICE, to co-organise the fair. “The objective is to provide companies with the best tools to obtain maximum profitability from their presence at Meat Attraction, while providing professional visitors with a broad overview of this sector,” said De Castro.
She added that the potential of the Spanish market should help events like this to succeed. “The Spanish meat industry has great potential in foreign markets. Aware of this, we at Meat Attraction are making great efforts with initiatives such as the first ‘Buyers Meetings’ programme, which included a B2B meeting agenda with priority market buyers, supported by ICEX Spain Exports and Investments.”
De Castro said the buyer initiative proved positive, with 70 buyers from 55 companies, hailing from 15 countries taking part. “More than 450 business meetings were held with 52 exhibiting companies, which was well received by the participants.”
She added that there had already been positive feedback from this year’s show, which boded well for its future. “The participation figures mentioned above, as well as the high levels of satisfaction registered among the participants through our surveys during the fair confirm the positive forecasts we had before the event, and constitute the best guarantee for starting work now on the next edition, which will again be held at Feria de Madrid, from 17 to 19 September 2019.”