Food Africa and pacprocess successfully concluded

The trade fair duo Food Africa and pacprocess MEA took place there from 5 to 7 December. Trade fairs and accompanying programme ensured full halls in Cairo.

For three days, the Egyptian capital, Cairo, was dominated by food and packaging: the trade fair duo Food Africa and pacprocess MEA took place there from 5 to 7 December. As the organiser, the interpack Alliance was fully satisfied.

According to the organisers, it was the most successful Food Africa in its history and a pacprocess MEA on course for growth: After an economically challenging year, the trade fair duo of the interpack alliance generated numerous positive impulses and business deals. A total of 25,821 visitors from over 60 countries came to the Egypt International Exhibition Center in Cairo from 5 to 7 December to find out about innovations and trends and, above all, to expand their contacts in Africa and the Arab world. They met 738 exhibitors from 32 countries as well as 14 country participations and joint stands. This corresponds to a visitor growth of over 60 and an exhibitor increase of around 70 percent compared to the previous event.

"The impressive development of the event, but also the atmosphere and the discussions on site made it clear once again that Africa and the Middle East are an attractive destination for many companies. Anyone who is not here is missing out on opportunities. The integration of Food Africa into our portfolio has a signal effect. We are thus offering a unique platform for access to the African food mega-market," said Thomas Dohse, Director of the interpack Processing & Packaging portfolio at the end of the three-day event. Food Africa has been part of the interpack alliance since the end of 2021 and is organised jointly by Messe Düsseldorf and its partners IFP Egypt and Konzept.

This year, Food Africa once again offered a comprehensive picture of all sub-sectors of the food industry and agribusiness: processed food, dates, seafood, fresh produce, herbs and spices, packaging and processing technologies.

Targeted networking and information

The spectrum of topics at the accompanying conference ranged from global market developments such as digitalisation and sustainability to region-specific content. At Food Africa, for example, the national strategy for the Egyptian date industry was presented, which is of great importance for the country and which is facing increasing global demand.

Food Africa and pacprocess MEA also stand for the targeted networking of trade buyers with the exhibitors on site. The Hosted Buyers Programme proved particularly valuable again this year, with more than 500 participants from 63 countries. In this way, new trade relations were promoted in a targeted manner.

pacprocess MEA grows alongside Food Africa

114 exhibitors presented their products at the third edition of pacprocess MEA, which was specially tailored to the local market and represented the value chain of the packaging and related process industries. Here, too, a positive conclusion was drawn after three days.

"With this year's event, we have taken the next step into an important growth market," said Thomas Dohse. "We will continue to strengthen pacprocess MEA in order to offer the industry ideal conditions to gain a foothold in this exciting region. In doing so, we consider the parallelism with Food Africa to be quite crucial, as well as the cooperation with our local partners." The synergies of the trade fair duo are numerous, as all decision-makers come together in one place.