This  year’s BioFach, world leading organic trade fair held in Nuremberg, Germany 13-16 February, was considered by most  international visitors a success. While talk around the show was that the exhibition area was much smaller and trade visitor numbers were down, BioFach organizers said 41,794 trade visitors (2012: 40,315) from 126 countries (international share 44%)  were  delighted  with the high-quality, varied and innovative range of products from the 2,413 exhibitors at BioFach, 207 of them in the VIVANESS health and beauty fair. In der Veranstaltungs- analyse stechen zwei Trends hervor: 2013 kamen zur Weltleitmesse  erneut   rund 6.000 Fachhändler (Kategorie Einzelhandel, Naturkost  & Reformwaren); das entspricht 16 % der Facheinkäufer.

41.794  Besucher aus  126 Ländern, internationaler Anteil 44 % In the 2013 event analysis, two trends stand out: Around 6,000 dealers attended (retail category, natural food & health products), a 16% of trade buyers. The international share of total visits increased from 41 to 44%.

Udo Funke, show director said: “The ranking of the groups of visitors by sector continues to be led by specialist retailers. At  the  same time we were delighted once again about growing participation from abroad. Our customers appreciate the clear focus on certified organic food, the consequent review of the strict admission criteria, but also the extraordinary diversity of ideas, to  provide them  with the  framework program and the special shows.”

Most  visitors to  BioFach / Vivaness came from the retail sector (2013: 37%) (Natural Foods and Goods, Food, general, cosmetic /  beauty shop, wine / delicatessen, textiles and other natural products),    the    Wholesale/ Import & Export (19%) (Health food & health products, foods in general), the manufacturing (18%) (food, beverages, cosmetics / chemist goods, textiles and other natural products), agricultural and aquaculture sector (11%) and  the  service sector (8%) (Associations /   Authorities, Hotels & Restaurants).

Miguel Montesinos of Spanish organic distributor La Finestra sul Cielo Espana said the new Quinua Real syrup introduced at the show got lots of attention from serious buyers.  He  received signed orders  from  the  UK,  The Netherlands, Dubai and other countries.  “I’m  very happy with the BioFach show, and while we  saw fewer visitors from  Germany and  Europe, there were more from Asia and the Middle East,” he said.

Mexico-based organic agave sweetener company, The iidea Co. was busy at the popular Mexico stand.  Karla Padilla said the firm was satisfied with this year’s event and had a lot of good enquiries and leads. First-time exhibitor  at  the Australian Certified Organics stand was raw organic choco- late company Pana Chocolate, surprised   by   the   positive response  at   BioFach.  “We received well over 100 enqui- ries in the 4 days – this ranged from  large  distributors,  to emerging distributors, retailers and  online  stores,” Michael Buschel said. “We  are  very confident we have secured future business from retailers and  distributors. Already we have a retail stockist in Berlin who is now  selling our  full range of chocolate bars in their store.”

French supplier of quinoa, rice and cereal products Markal has been at BioFach for  15  years and  said there were fewer visitors this year. Sales manager Yasmina Hadj said: “We saw our regular customers, but were not happy with the  overall numbers of leads and enquiries.”

The  top  5  visitor countries were led  by  Germany  with 23,524 visitors,   followed by Austria (1701), Italy (1,674), France (1,197) and the Netherlands (1181). The next organic trade fair in the world duo BIOFACH and VIVANESS will be held on 12 to 15 February, 2014.