Events Ascame/ July 15, 2024/ Events, Featured
On the 2nd of July we dived into the business opportunities in the healthy food sector through a new ASCAME webinar entitled Connecting with Free From Food: The Food Industry Leader’s Event. This webinar was co-organized along with our partner Free From Food & Health Ingredients, which is the leading European exhibition serving industry and retail and covering natural, healthy, free-from, plant-based, functional, and vegan finished food and ingredients solutions.
ASCAME and Free From Food & Health Ingredients signed this year a collaboration agreement to foster the food industry in the Mediterranean region and worldwide, creating lasting business partnerships and representing companies, professionals and platforms to foster natural and healthy food. As a result of this agreement, both parties agreed to organize this webinar addressed to ASCAME’s members and also to all the companies of this growing sector to discover the latest trends, products, and technologies, and also to explore new partnerships, and make new business connections.
The session was conducted by Mr. Demiral Ikram, Event Manager at Free From Food & Health Ingredients, who began the conference by sharing interesting insights on the growth of the health and wellness foods market. These are some of the main takeaways:
- The organic sales in value in Europe is the 2nd biggest in Europe amounting to € 53,1 billion in 2022, trailing behind only the United States, which reported sales of € 58,6 billion. Germany stood out as the largest market, boasting sales of 15.3 billion euros.
- The global health and wellness foods market was valued at US$ 825 billion in 2022 and is estimated to reach a value of US$ 1,495 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 6,1%.
- Consumer spending on organic food per capita doubled in the decade from 2013 to 2022. A rapid growth in the consumption of organic food products is anticipated to open up new opportunities for the expansion of the market for health and wellness foods.
- There were more than 480,000 organic producers in Europe and over 419,000 in the EU, representing an increase of 7.5 and 9.5 percent, respectively. Italy had the highest number with 82,593.
In addition, webinar attendees had the opportunity to learn about how to participate in the three upcoming tradeshows organized by Free From Food & Health platform in different countries: Bangkok (11-13 September), Dubai (2-3 October), Amsterdam (5-6 November). Mr. Ikram talked about the business opportunities that Mediterranean companies will have with potential buyers and specifiers from small and large European retailers: “These three events represent a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of this industry by showcasing brands and innovative products & solutions, ensuring to gain prominence among target buyers, and extending the network, and connecting with retail buyers, category managers, industry leaders, and experts”.
For instance, the Dubai and Amsterdam show trades will feature a B2B matchmaking event to schedule meetings between the sector’s companies and buyers who can be retailers, distributors, importers, private labels, HORECA, etc. This is a quick, strong, and efficient way to meet new potential partners in just 30 minutes. On the flip side, the three events will hold conferences with engaging keynote speakers covering a range of topics, including market research, consumer trends, ingredient solutions, and innovation talks.
Regarding the visitor profile, Mr. Ikram explained that the Free From Food & Health Ingredients trade shows attendance from 5,631 visitors hailing from over 63 diverse countries. The exhibition is renowned for attracting a discerning and high-caliber target audience. Among the attendees are buyers and specifiers representing both large and small retail establishments, manufacturers, food service professionals, as well as individuals from bio, health, convenient stores, and various other free-from distribution channels. This distinguished group of food visitors actively seeks out products and solutions within the realms of free-from, organic, vegan, and functional foods, making the event a hub for those in search of innovative and health-conscious offerings.
Finally, the Event Manager of Free From Food & Health Ingredients referred to benefits will have ASCAME’s members who attend any of these three trade shows, such as their gateway to the European, GCC and Asian retail market, tailored matchmaking opportunities, participation in the Food Innovation Awards, promoting the exhibitors through the platform’s newsletters and social networks, or retail safaris.
➡ Contact us if you are interested in taking advantage of this collaboration agreement and increasing your company’s competitiveness within this market! 👉 secretariat@ascame.org