Cibus, the food trade show – scheduled from 7 to 10 May 2018 in Parma – is active to offer concrete business and export opportunities for Italian companies. A road show outside Italy has been set in cooperation with Italian Trade Agency (ITA – ICE) to promote the 19th edition of the exhibition. The show will start in the following days, together with a series of meetings organized with retailers in various target markets: France, Germany, China, USA and the ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Thailandia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, etc.). Among the agreements already in place, there is the one signed between Cibus and Macfrut (the fruit and vegetable fair organized by Cesena Fiera in the Rimini Expo Center) to facilitate the exchange with buyers during the two exhibitions for their joint presentation in China. Moreover, the Hosted Buyers Program has been reinforced to help foreign buyers organize meetings and to make guided tours inside Italian companies. Thanks to many different activities that Cibus performs also outside the fair – said Gian Domenico Auricchio, President of ParmaFiere – the event represents not only an international show for product promotion but also a real tool to enhance Italian companies’ exports. The importance of Cibus is also confirmed by the growing number of foreign buyers that refer to it as the main platform of ‘authentic Italian’ food. In Parma, in fact, people can only find Italian companies displaying high-end products.
The growth of export sales
The good performance of Italian food exports is confirmed by the figures for 2017: exports increased by about 7% in 2016, with an estimated year-end turnover of some 32 billion euros. According to Federalimentare figures, every year 800 Italian food companies land on foreign markets for the first time: in Europe, in the US, but also in Asia with China in the first place, in Hong Kong, in South Korea, in Thailand and in Taiwan. The exhibition of new products which can break through on the international scene and the strengthening of international top buyers’ intake will be the base of the 19th edition of Cibus, where more than 3.000 Italian exhibitors are expected to come.
