Fruit Logistica, the leading trade fair for the international fresh produce industry, returns to Berlin, Germany in 2010 boasting a strong a central and eastern European presence, with more than 100 exhibitors from a range of countries expected to participate.
Exhibitors from EU members Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, as well as Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia and other non-EU countries, will present their products and services to the 50,000-plus visitors that are expected to descend on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds on 3-5 February next year.
Fruit Logistica represents a key event for the region's fresh produce industry, with large groups of trade professionals from central and eastern Europe meeting a growing number of interested parties from western Europe and overseas to explore new business opportunities or joint ventures.
Hungary is one such country looking to increase its marketing opportunities, with nearly half of the fresh produce grown in the country sold on export markets.
'The placement of 3m-3.5m tonnes of fruit and vegetables on domestic and regional markets, as we did prior to German reunification, appears to be a realistic goal,' said Bela Mártonffy, managing director of Hungarian fruit and vegetable growers association FruitVeB. 'We expect this export share to remain stable and are aiming to use the geopolitical advantages of Hungary as a new logistics centre for fruit and vegetables in the European Union.'
Meanwhile, Serbia demonstrated its willingness to search out new opportunities with 36 countries exhibiting at the 2009 edition of Fruit Logistica, and a similar presence is expected next year.
'Fruit Logistica is the world's most important trade fair fro fresh fruit,' said Remer Lane, head of marketing and exports for the USAID Agribusiness Project, which backed Serbian exhibitors. 'You simply have to be there.'
