The show expects to attract over 100 exhibitors from 10 different countries
Fira de Barcelona and Grupo Palco launch the first edition of Feria Alimentos Cuba in Havana
Following the organisation of HostelCuba in May, Fira de Barcelona and its local partner Palco Business Group are launching a brand new trade show in Cuba. This is the first edition of Feria Alimentos Cuba, the International Food, Drink and Food Services Show, which will be held on 5-7 July in Havana, offering new business opportunities to the sector, whether local firms or foreign companies looking to expand their brand on the island.
Feria Alimentos Cuba will have a particularly international bent as it is bringing together over 100 exhibitors from 10 different countries, primarily Spain (37) and Cuba, but also Chile, USA, El Salvador, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama and the Dominican Republic. It will also be attended by the Cuban government’s bodies and institutions responsible for the country’s imports and exports.
The show’s offering encompasses a huge variety of products and services associated with the food and drink sector: from machinery, equipment and agrifood technology to meat and their derivatives; preserved and semi-preserved foods; wines and spirits; mineral waters, soft drinks, beers, musts and ciders; olive and vegetable oils; fruit and vegetables; milk and dairy products; confectionary, biscuits and jams; and seafood, farmed fish and frozen fish products.
The trade fair, which takes places in the Pabexpo exhibition venue in Havana, managed by the Palco Business Group (the leading government trade fair and congress organizer in Cuba), is being launched within the context of Cuba’s economic openness, which is generating business opportunities for local and international firms alike. For local businesses, the event will provide an effective platform for exporting their products, as in addition to importers the show expects to welcome foreign trade professionals with an interest in importing. Meanwhile, the participation of international firms in the show will help them to make initial contacts with a view to becoming new suppliers or opening up new business outlets in such a key sector as the food and drink industry.
The show also expects to welcome importers and exporters in the Cuban and Caribbean markets (including the Dominican Republic and Jamaica) which supply the food retail chain in general, including retail chains and central buying offices, restaurants, specialist stores and other operators in the food retail system.
New investment opportunities
The trade fair will encourage business contacts among exhibitors and the more than 150 international buyers expected to attend, and over the course of two days there will be numerous business meetings organized by the Cuban Chamber of Commerce. In addition, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment is expecting to present more than 20 new projects in its Portfolio of Opportunities for Foreign Investment. The show will also feature conferences, presentations of business models, workshops and tasting sessions, amongst other activities.
Upcoming trade shows in 2017 and 2018
The new portfolio of dedicated trade shows organized jointly by Fira de Barcelona and Palco Business Group is scheduled to continue in 2017 with PacGraf, the International Printing, Packaging and Graphic Arts Exhibition, on 7-9 April; the second edition of HostelCuba, on 23-25 May, and Securtec, the International Security and Emergency Services Exhibition, on 19-20 September. In 2018, the second edition of Feria Alimentos Cuba will be held on 22-24 May, at the same time as the XIV International Conference on Food Science and Technology (CICTA).
According to the director of International Business at Fira de Barcelona, Ricard Zapatero: ‘Cuba has every qualitiy necessary to become a leading trade show destination. We are committed to helping them to achieve this goal, together with our local partners.’
Barcelona, 4 July 2016