COLEAD at Fruit Logistica 2023: More meetings and contacts in a fair that was less crowded than before COVID

The 2023 edition of Fruit Logistica marks a return to normal after COVID and the delayed 2022 fair, which took place last April. This year’s show had a total of 63,470 trade visitors, buyers from over 140 countries and 2,610 exhibitors from 92 countries. However, in 2019 the show had over 78,000 trade visitors from 135 countries and 3,200 exhibitors from 90 countries. In an increasingly digital world, this shows the continued need for face-to-face meetings, especially in difficult economic times, when the sector is facing high energy prices, supply chain issues and inflation.

Against this background, COLEAD is making a positive assessment of its participation in Fruit Logistica, with more than 250 valuable contacts at the show. This is even more meetings than in the years before COVID. Most of the exchanges were with existing and potential partners from programmes such as FFM SPS and FFM. This is one of the main assets of this fair for COLEAD: it is a three-day mission to meet companies, professional organisations (SPEG, VEPEAG, TAHA, EHPEA and more) and experts from about 15 African and Caribbean countries. Other objectives achieved: understanding the trends in the international fresh fruit and vegetable market, notably through participation in 17 conferences; observation of the latest innovations, particularly in packaging and equipment; and meetings with other professional organisations in the sector, such as the CPMA. Finally, within the framework of the AGRINFO programme, exchanges with some 20 professional representatives of the sector, particularly from Latin and Central America and Asia, enabled interesting feedback to be collected on the AGRINFO platform launched by COLEAD at the end of January.

The cocktail party organised on our stand in the Africa Hall brought the COLEAD family together and facilitated networking. It reflected our participation in Fruit Logistica 2023: a lot of people and a good representation of the different stakeholders in COLEAD’s field of action. This was an opportunity for the President, Stephen Mintah, to look back at the beginning of the year, which was marked by our change of name from COLEACP to COLEAD. He recalled that this change signified a turning point in the life of our organisation, both a continuity and a second life, as a network but also as a technical, digital and field resource centre. Furthermore, Stephen stressed that COLEAD is and will be committed to a process of continuous improvement in order to play a different, effective and human role in the sustainability of the agricultural sector and in particular the fruit and vegetable value chain.

See you in one year in Berlin!