Exhibitors in Cesena on 7-9 October were 700 (20% of which international) on 30,000m sq, and 21,500 visitors, 4,000 of which from abroad. The joint action of our foreign office, of the Italian Foreign Institute ICE, the Emilia Romagna Region and the Chamber of Commerce have made possible the participation of foreign operators and delegations from 80 countries Even 300 bilateral B2B meetings were organized.

Also the attendance of buyers from major retail chains has contributed to the high level of the business meetings and the satisfaction of the exhibitors.

Macfrut was confirmed to be the trade event for the entire supply chain in which world leading companies of various sectors take part. Exhibitors included for the first time big supermarket chains such as Coop Italia (that held in Macfrut its European Convention) and Conad, as well as the major multinational Chiquita.

“Considering the national and global state of crisis, we can say this edition has been very rich - Mr. Scarpellini added-. A strong message was sent to the fresh produce sector, predicting a more cohesive industry than the past, with the hope that Italy will be among the first regions to get out of the economic downturn.”

Drop in prices and exports, increased production volumes and lower consumption are problems connected to the economic crisis that are not affecting Italy alone - declared Luca Zaia, Italy’s minister of Agriculture, speaking on Wednesday, October 7, at the opening of Macfrut 2009. The minister pointed out that the farmer is an entrepreneur who cannot enter the market in any order. The CMO rules must be reviewed - Mr. Zaia said - and producers will be involved in the price formation process. However, he lamented the lack of interprofessional aggregation.

“It is necessary to react to the crisis - Macfrut president Mr. Scarpellini agreed - by creating opportunities of confrontation for all the supply chain, including the consumer, to create a system. And Macfrut offered experts the possibility to meet and analyze the industry’s points of weakness and identify alternative proposals, such as product innovation, interprofessionalism, supply concentration, a European policy, all tools that would allow to be more competitive on international markets”, he concluded.

Furthermore, for the first time this year the Macfrut Innovation Award was presented: the machinery company Unitec has won the first prize.