BioFach, the leading fair for organic products, celebrated its 20th birthday last week in a snow-coated Nuremberg, Germany. However, neither the snowfall nor the current economic crisis was sufficient to keep away the estimated 46,000 trade visitors that attended the event on 19-22 February.
Several exhibitors stressed their concern over the current economic situation, but contended that, although the organic sector’s rocketing growth had slowed down somewhat over the last few months, the loyalty of organic consumers was such that sales were not being hit as hard as many anticipated.
Ralf Settels of German organics trading company Lehmann Natur told Fruitnet.com: “There has been an effect from the financial crisis, but demand is only down a little. In 2006/07, we experienced growth of 20 per cent. For 2008, we had growth of 15 per cent. For us, this is OK.”
According to the organisers, 38 per cent of visitors were international, with buyers coming from 130 countries, mostly Germany, Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark. Of the 2,744 exhibitors, approximately two-thirds were from outside Germany.
