International Tradeshows

Willkommen Back

After years of pivots and postponements, bakers return to Germany for tradeshows in 2023.

BY JOANIE SPENCER

© William on Adobe Stock It’s been a tough few years for tradeshows; only a precious few had the good fortune of getting through the pandemic unscathed. Fortunately, the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE), which took place Sept. 18-21 in Las Vegas, fell in the sweet spot between the onset of COVID-19 and the return of in-person events. But two major Germany-based tradeshows — interpack in Dusseldorf and iba in Munich — weren’t so lucky.

After three years of virtual versions and complete postponements, both shows will host their events in-person for the first time since before the pandemic. Although international attendance is hard to predict from a quantitative standpoint, tradeshows around the world are reporting highly qualified attendance, even from countries such as China, which currently exercises one of the strictest international travel regulations in the world.

Prior to 2020, IBIE, interpack and iba maintained three-year cycles that afforded each to take place in separate years. But global disruption to the tradeshow industry has resulted in interpack and iba both happening in 2023. With interpack in the spring and iba in the fall, it’s the first time they’ve ever occured in the same year. See what’s in store for both events as Germany welcomes the industry back.

Photo courtesy of interpack

After six years, interpack will return and address global packaging concerns across all verticals incuding bakery.

interpack: May 4-10

With its tagline as “Simply Unique,” interpack is known as a world-leading horizontal tradeshow for packaging and processing across several industries including bakery, snack and confectionery.

Pre-pandemic, interpack touted more than 170,000 attendees from 169 nations and 2,866 exhibitors from 55 countries. After a successful show in 2017, interpack first fell prey to COVID in 2020, and after two postponements, it will return to its regular triennial cycle in 2023.

“After missing six years, everyone is eager to get back to interpack, both exhibitor-wise and visitor-wise,” said Thomas Dohse, project director, processing and packaging for Messe Dusseldorf, which organizes the show. “It’s a must-see event, even more than it was in the past.”

When the show was canceled in 2020, interpack offered to hold exhibitor positions for those who chose to keep their registration for the show in anticipation of a 2021 postponement and, ultimately, 2023. As a result, exhibitor space is already sold out with many on a waiting list.

“We are back on track with the show being booked out,” Dohse said. “Now we are focusing on bringing in visitors. It’s a great opportunity for US visitors with the dollar being so strong. It’s almost a 1:1 exchange today.”

With consumer demands significantly driving change particularly in packaging, interpack has identified certain hot topics of innovation that will be addressed throughout the show, not just on the exhibition floor. Those topics include circular economy, resource management, digitization and IIOT, and product safety, all of which are areas of concern for commercial bakers.

Dohse observed that while manufacturers in every sector have been talking about issues like sustainability and circular economy for years, the time for action has arrived, with crises such as droughts and energy shortages happening around the world and calling for better resource management. Coupled with a rising demand for food — sales of packaged food increased 4% from 2017-2021 and are projected to grow 14% by 2026, according to interpack data — food manufacturers are seeking best practices for efficient food production now more than ever.

“Manufacturers have talked about it for years, and now they mean it,” Dohse said. “They see rising prices for energy, water and materials, and it makes a difference when you’re able to conserve in those areas. The cost of energy is going up, and manufacturers can save a lot just through efficient processes or changing materials.”

Issues that will be discussed include reducing or using lighter packaging material, better recyclability, recyclable packaging design, establishing or expanding recycling outlets, and more.

Special discussions will also take place around co-manufacturing, which is gaining interest from nearly every facet of CPG manufacturing and product development. The World Packaging Organization (WPO) will also present its 2023 WPO Awards celebrating the top packaging innovations at the show.

Although bakery is one of eight main parts of the show, baker attendees can find a cross-pollination of innovation throughout other areas of CPG.

“Bakers will get a broad picture of packaging,” Dohse said. “They’ll have a special view of bakery, but if they want to see more than that, if they want to see other aspects of packaging and processing, then they really can’t afford to miss interpack.”

iba: Oct. 22-26

iba, a leading trade fair for baking and confectionery, was last held in 2018 in Munich. It has faced several challenges in its show cycle, which had the event originally scheduled in October 2021.

With worldwide waves of uncertainty, not only for in-person events but also for international travel, iba created the all-virtual iba.CONNECTING EXPERTS, which first took place online in March 2021. It was followed by a second virtual event later that year after iba organizers announced they would have to postpone the in-person version until 2023.

“Postponing the live event to 2023 was the right decision,” said Susann Seidemann, exhibition director for iba. “As the world’s leading trade fair, we will soon provide the baking industry with a global offer and an iba in its full strength, dimension and quality.” Historically, iba touts high attendance as well as engagement, with the 2018 event showcasing more than 1,300 exhibitors and more than 75,000 attendees representing nearly 170 countries. Of those attendees, more than 82% were decision makers, according to iba data.

The two iba.CONNECTING EXPERTS events allowed for this large global community to exchange ideas and discuss innovations during a time when in-person shows were postponed and international travel restrictions prevented even routine business meetings from happening. While virtual events posed challenges for tradeshows of all types and specifically the baking industry, iba used the interaction as a platform to maintain momentum until the on-site show resumes in 2023.

“When we postponed in 2021, COVID required us to be more flexible in ways we never knew before,” Seidemann said. “Of course, many factors such as travel restrictions, the uncertain development of the pandemic, feedback from the market and a busy international trade fair schedule for 2022 played a role. Having the next show in 2023 gave us and the market a planning security all parties will benefit from.”

During IBIE, iba’s leadership shared details for the 2023 event, including a new structure called iba.topics, which organizes the show by specific areas of interest. They reflect the hall structure and include four main categories: production technology and equipment, raw materials and ingredients, artisan bakery, and packaging technology. Additionally, iba.focus topics will address the megatrends and market developments such as sustainability, artisan bakery, health, food trends, industry 4.0, turnkey solutions and quality management. With the supply chain and current energy crisis on the minds of all bakers, iba is emphasizing the technology available for efficiency in every aspect of those areas.

“Valuable industry exchange — and learning from different perspectives for finding solutions to the challenges we all are facing — are the most important things we offer to the industry,” Seidemann said. “Our main priority is to be the meeting place of the year for the global baking community and help them through these crises by addressing what currently moves the industry.”

Nearly 80% of exhibitor space is already booked, which reflects a slight uptick than in previous years that took place in the “regular” show cycle.

“Key international players have already booked their booths,” Seidemann said, noting that booth proposals will go out toward the end of this year.

In addition to iba, which is getting registrations and requests for information almost daily, the industry is showing excitement for the return to international exhibitions with global tradeshows showing strong attendance.

“I have visited a lot of events and tradeshows, and I have seen firsthand that they are possible and necessary,” Seidemann said. “People are hungry to get back to shows, to real encounters. The whole iba team can’t wait to meet everyone in Munich 2023 when it’s finally time again to taste, smell and try the greatest variety of baked goods a show has to offer.” CB

Susann Seidemann, exhibition director for iba, sees excitement for the return of international tradeshows.