There is no development without innovation. This is the assumption with which Cibus Connecting Italy 2023 returns to the stage in Parma, March 29-30. The project that the international food show is pursuing aims to convene the needs and experiences of production, industry, and retail trade around a single table to analyze new scenarios for the food world.
These scenarios concern more proximate but discontinuous supply chain models, but also the greater enhancement of territorial ties and continuous rediscovery of productions, traditions, and culture of Italian-style living and eating.
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CIBUS BY THE NUMBERS
20,000 visitors from 90 countries are expected at the exhibition, including 1,300 top buyers coming to Parma thanks to the incoming program developed in collaboration with the Italian Trade Agency. About 1,000 Italian food brands will be present at Cibus Connecting Italy 2023.
Top buyers attending will include: Metro AG International Germany, Selfridges, Sodexo UK, Waitrose UK, Albertsons, H-E-B USA, Rouses Supermarkets, Meijer, Albertsons, Performance Food Group, Sysco, The Kroger Co. Sysco, Marks & Spencer, Lulu Group International, Mercadona, Eroski Spain, Biedronka (Jeronimo Martins), Lotte Mart, Coop Estonia, Colruyt, Delhaize, Billa, Leclerc, and Tesco.
IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE AND INNOVATION
Cibus Connecting Italy 2023 consists of two areas. The first is experiential and immersive in the tradition and know-how of Italian food. By visiting the fair, a professional can truly understand, explore, and touch the roots of authentic Italian food&beverage: raw materials, semi-processed ingredients, and processed products are, in fact, at the center of the exhibition activities and the many Cibus Destination on the Road that the fair traditionally reserves for hundreds of foreign buyers in the different territories.
Cibus Connecting Italy has also a role as a privileged networking platform. The central issue of the fair is the ability of the food industry and the entire Italian supply chain to create and propose innovative and tailor-made products capable of crossing the premium demand coming from the domestic and foreign markets.
In the spotlight, we can also find the catalog of new product innovations and the Innovation Corner, a display of the 100 most interesting product innovations evaluated and selected by a jury of experts.
THE PROGRAMME
Cibus is first and foremost a multi-channel exhibition that is constantly renewing itself. There are four new areas for the 2023 edition: fruit and vegetables (with the absolute debut among the trade show’s exhibitors of Italian fresh fruit and vegetable producers), semi-finished products for ice cream and pastry, rich-in, and plant-based products.
Adding to the fair’s experience and the “Cibus Destination on the Road” program are the features of MyBusinessCibus, a platform that replicates online the matching of supply and demand.
The multichannel nature of Cibus is complemented by a program of about 40 events including round tables, networking activities, seminars, and the ever-present “Cibus After” show.
FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY
Paolo Mascarino, President of the Italian food industries association Federalimentare, says, “Italy is known throughout the world for its food culture and model, which has the Mediterranean Diet as its cultural reference point. The Italian food model is also among the most sustainable because it is based on the valorization of the territory. The wide variety of original products and the presence of brands of excellence have enabled Italian exports to gain significant market share internationally, to the point that made-in-Italy abroad is now synonymous with taste and quality. Not even international crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic and war have been able to curb this trend. In fact, data show record levels for our exports, which from 2000 to 2022 grew by almost +300%. If we look at 2022 alone, we see that export sales came in at around 50 billion, +19% over the previous year.”
A SHOWCASE FOR MADE IN ITALY
“Over the past 10 years, Italian agribusiness exports have grown in double digits,” confirms Antonio Cellie, CEO of Fiere di Parma. “Even during pandemics and war, all over the world and on all sales channels. Therefore, similarly to what happened in other leading made-in-Italy sectors, Cibus wanted and was able to become a successful international event on an annual basis.”
THE ITALIAN TRADE AGENCY AND THE KEY ROLE OF EXPORTS
“In the first 11 months of 2022, exports increased by +16% over 2021 and exceeded 54 billion euros,” says the President of the Italian Trade Agency, Matteo Zoppas. “Food sales increased by +20%, and wine and beverage sales by +11%.”
The Italian Trade Agency’s General Manager, Roberto Luongo, states, “at Cibus Connecting Italy 2023 in Parma as many as 1,300 top buyers from 90 foreign countries will meet about 500 exhibitors in two days. These numbers confirm the role of the Italian Trade Agency in supporting the internationalization of the Italian agrifood supply chain. There is an extensive incoming program dedicated to foreign operators, preceded by a series of communication actions through our network of 78 offices abroad and aimed at promoting the event, the sector, the ‘Italy’ brand, and its products.”