Look Ahead: Josep Antoni Valls, Alimentaria 2016

Gama spoke to Josep Antoni Valls, Managing Director of Alimentaria, ahead of the 40th edition of the international consumer goods tradeshow.

What are your expectations for the 40th edition of Alimentaria?

We are expecting the most international, innovative and gastronomy-rich edition in the 40 years of the show.

Among the more than 140,000 attendees we are expecting for 2016, we will welcome more than 40,000 international visitors from more than 150 countries. 25% of our exhibitors will also be representing overseas brands.

While Spain will obviously be the best represented market in Alimentaria, our scale ensures the event will also have a strong international dimension.  Alimentaria is an excellent entry point for the Spanish market, but it also opens up business opportunities in markets such as Latin America, the EU, North America, China and south-east Asia, among others. Through our organisation, we facilitate this international angle to the show: attracting businesses from all five continents of the world and inviting more than 800 Hosted Buyers to come together and sign business deals with our exhibitors right here in the show.

Elsewhere, our Innoval showcase will be the centre for innovation strategy at Alimentaria, with more than 300 products demonstrating the trends that are set to shape the food industry over the coming years. This will be complemented by the conferences and seminars at the Alimentaria Hub, where noted industry experts will reveal the future of the sector through themes such as branding and innovation, nutrition, health and wellbeing, internationalisation and globalisation, retail and distribution and marketing and PR, as well as corporate social responsibility.