Where The World Meets

By Nicole Liang

One of the world’s most important food and drink trade event, Anuga, will return this year in Cologne, and celebrate its 30th anniversary. While the macro economic conditions surrounding the industry are not the most conducive, its organiser say the fair has so far shown all positive signs of a good turnout from October 10 through 14, 2009.

The international media was given a preview of what to expect at Anuga 2009. A press conference for Anuga was held in Tokyo, during the Wine & Gourmet Japan on April 23, 2009. Koelnmesse GmbH organises both fairs. According to its food business unit’s vice president Peter Grothues, there is already a strong demand for participation at Anuga, five months before the event begins, despite the “formidable challenges” faced by the food industry. He revealed that up to 95 percent of the show space has already been sold by then.

Grothues continued that he prefer to adopt the “glass half full” view, as the fair expects to welcome about 6,000 suppliers from 100 countries and 160,000 trade visitors from 150 nations. He suggested that there might have been difficulties posed by the worldwide financial crisis, globalisation, far-reaching digitalisation, demographic transformation, climate change or the growing concentration in the industry, but these are inevitable conditions of the business environment that one must work with.

“We shouldn't stay at home and lament that times are bad. Come to Anuga where the world meets. All distribution channels can be found here. To stay in the market, you have to be in the market and participate in the market,” Grothues enthused.

“F&B is an aggressive business. If you want to have a future in this business, you need to go to places where decision makers are,” he added.

Anuga, “where the world meets”, covers an exhibition space of 300,000 sq m, larger than 40 football pitches put together. More than 80 percent of the exhibitors traditionally come from outside Germany. In addition to the turnout from European food-producing nations, Anuga has been increasingly popular with participants from Asia, Grothues reported in a presentation.

Asian Representation

The Chinese have so far been relatively more supportive of the event than other Asian countries. A total of 492 exhibitors and 598 trade visitors from China came to Anuga in 2007. Comparatively, Anuga 2001 welcomed 120 exhibitors and 278 buyers.

Forty-seven Singaporean exhibitors, along with 129 buyers were seen at Anuga 2007, up from 34 companies and 90 trade visitors in 2001.

From Japan, 31 exhibitors will be seen in Anuga and 702 Japanese trade visitors have registered to attend, as of April 2009. These are encouraging numbers especially when compared to the eight exhibitors and 417 buyers recorded in 2001.

Trends And Key Segments

Speaking on trends and key segments, Grothues said that the foodservice and catering market has grown to be equally important as retail markets. “In Europe, the foodservice and catering segment accounts for about 30-40 percent of the entire food and drink industry. In the US, this figure is as high as 50 percent. Therefore suppliers who supply to the ‘menu side’ are needed.”

In addition, eight up and coming sectors in the food industry are identified and will be highlighted at Anuga 2009:

• Organic products
• Gourmet products and regional specialities
• Health and functional food
• Own brand (Private labels)
• Kosher products
• Halal products
• Finger food
• Vegetarian products

On why health and functional food has grown so popular, Grothues explained that a think-tank partnership with the Federation of German Food and Drink Industries (BVE) eight to nine years ago revealed that people have begun to look at wellness food. This was a micro-trend that sprang from the mega-trend of organic or natural food demanded by people who wanted to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Private Label Growth

Professor Matthias Horst (Executive Director, BVE), who presented an overview on the German food and drink industry*, was also there to address the growing market for private labels. Said Horst: “In Germany, the top five retailers have a combined market share of about 84-85 percent. One reason for their success is the introduction of private labels, which have been quite well received by consumers. Private labelling is quite a successful tool for these retailers to promote their brand names.”

Horst said in addition that private labels are not just for the basic, price competitive products. “There are good opportunities for this kind of offering in the sector. There is also a tendency to private labels to be in the premium segment, especially in the UK and this is growing too in Germany.”

Grothues shared his views too and referred to the private label phenomenon as driven by “hybrid consumers”. This group of consumers have in their shopping baskets a fair mix of private label or lower priced items as well as premium foods from manufacturers. But whether it is private label or manufacturer branded premiums, it is not about social stature like before anymore.

To retailers, it is a matter of who gets the bigger margins. Some retailers even have their own slaughterhouses so they no longer have to buy fresh meat to be re-sold. “The point is to whom does the margin belong? The mid-end sector is going downhill and the Number 2, 3 or 4 brands and going out of business,” Grothues continued.

First Global Halal Conference

The Global Halal Conference will debut this year at Anuga. “Some say there are up to two billion Muslims worldwide, which is equal to one-third of the world’s population. Demand for Halal food is growing steadily and this presents great opportunities for Asian suppliers,” Grothues said.

In addition, he said that the conference’s focus is neither on religion or food technology. Instead, it will explore the opportunities and criteria involved in supplying Halal food. Organisers also aim for the conference to provide a platform to find out relevant contacts for Halal certification.

“In Germany now, there is a growing common sense for Halal food; there is a slightly better understanding. There are more manufacturers in Germany producing Halal food now,” Grothues explained.

Other supporting programmes lined up include:

• Anuga Executive Summit
• German Traders’ Night
• Golden Ice Crystal 2009
• Adult Nutrition congress
• Drinks Trend Forum
• Anuga Wine Special
• Trade Innovation Forum
• Visions of Cooking
• Creative Kitchen
• Catering Marketplace

Partner Country Turkey

A three Michelin star chef will be flown in and stationed in the Turkey pavilion, which will cover 2,000 sq m in area. About 150 Turkish enterprises are expected to exhibit here. Seminars on Turkish cuisines and its food industry will also be given. “Turkish food is not all about kebabs, which is not Turkish by the way. Turkish food is actually the basis for the entire oriental kitchen. It combines to best of the Oriental, mixed with the Mediterranean,” Grothues said.

About Wine Gourmet Japan

A total of 56 exhibitors showcased their best at Wine & Gourmet Japan (WGJ) from April 22 to 24 2009 at Tokyo Big Sight. Held in conjunction with FABEX, Dessert, Sweet & Drink Festival and Japan Meat Industry Festival, WGJ attracted 60,867 trade buyers and industry professionals. This number is 10 percent higher than the previous year’s, signifying a successful partnership between German trade fairs organiser Koelnmesse and the Japan Food Journal. Koelnmesse is organiser of WGJ while Japan Food Journal is the organiser of FABEX and Dessert, Sweet & Drink Festival.

Masayoshi Konno, President of Japan Food Journal, presided the opening ceremony on the first day which was attended by other prominent officials in the industry, including Katsuhiro Machida from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Hiroshi Kataoka, President, Tokyo University of Science, Suwa, among many other distinguished guests.

“For the first specialised wine and gourmet trade fair in Japan, we have a good number of exhibitors. Out of the 56 exhibitors and brands, more than 60 percent are from outside Japan, covering Australia, Chile, Spain, Taiwan and the US. Response from the visitors was positive. We are confident that Wine & Gourmet Japan has reaped success for our exhibitors,” said organiser Michael Dreyer, Asia Pacific Vice President of Koelnmesse.