Messe Stuttgart Takes Over Iran’s Largest Bakery Trade Fair
Messe Stuttgart continues to expand its business activities in Iran, by establishing a partnership with Iranian trade fair for the bakery sector, ibex.
ibex has been held annually since 2007, and the 11th edition held in November 2017 attracted 138 exhibitors from 16 countries, while 21,000 trade visitors attended the trade fair.
In its capacity as organizer of the trade fair, Messe Stuttgart will be responsible for everything relating to international exhibitors at the next event, and for its local implementation from November, 22 – 25, 2018.
The focal points of ibex are bakery and confectionery machinery, flour mills and machines for producing and processing flour, raw materials and additives, as well as packaging technology. The topics of shop construction, shop fittings, snack business, coffee, aromas and additives will be extended in future.
Ulrich Kromer, president of Messe Stuttgart, says: “Something which belongs together has come together here – the entire Iranian bakery industry and a trade fair organizer with experience internationally and in Iran. We have been focusing very successfully on the topic of bakers and confectioners with südback in Stuttgart for 39 years while we are the market leader in Turkey with the Ibatech events.”
The partners of ibex are the industry associations for the mill, bakery technology and bakery industry: Federation of the Iranian Food Industry, Iran Bread Union, Bulk and Semi-Bulk Bread Union and Iranian Bread Producer & Exporter Federation. Over 1,400 companies are organized in the Federation of the Iranian Food Industry. ibex therefore has the full support of the entire industry.
The institutional backbone is provided by KANON, the Research Center for Bakery Technology, and the Committee for Agriculture, Water Management and the Food Industry of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Ali Reza Karimi, president of KANON, and Kaveh Zargaran from the Chamber of Commerce, says: “Our objective is to support and enhance ibex in the same way that the Iranian market and tastes are also currently changing. We want to bring technological accomplishments and know-how into the country in order to improve production of bread, our basic food, and also promote growth.”
Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, a member of the executive committee of the Federation of the Iranian Food Industry, comments: “We are in a transitional phase and 17,400 traditional bakeries are very interested in investing in modern production lines and state-of-the-art technology. We want to extend our existing focal points to include the topics of snack business, shop fittings and packaging. We have therefore found the ideal partner in Messe Stuttgart for the further development of the trade fair.”
Great Growth Opportunities
Iran, whose population of 80 million is similar to that of Germany, has one of the world’s highest per capita consumptions of bread, i.e. 160 kilograms annually (compared with 60.4 kilograms in Germany). In 2013 the value of imports of bakery and confectionery machinery was just USD11.67m. In 2014 it rose by 47% to USD24.69m and has remained constant at USD28.3m since 2015. The main supplier countries are Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, China, France, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain and Russia.
Messe Stuttgart has been involved in the bakery and confectionery industry since 1978 with the südback trade fair, in Stuttgart, Germany. In Turkey, another trade fair organized by Messe Stuttgart is Ibatech Istanbul, the leading trade fair for the Turkish bakery and confectionery market.