MACFRUT 2015 News: A new location, international visitors and tools for the fruit and vegetabl supply chain

A new location and an extensive offer of initiatives to promote innovation and internationalisation. Many new features will characterise the 2015 edition of Macfrut, the Italian Fruit & Vegetable Trade Fair, scheduled to be held from 23 to 25 September. The first and most important of these is that Macfrut, organised, once again, by Cesena Fiera, will be held at Rimini Fiera, where it will be spread over six halls with 11 exhibition sectors (Seeds, Breeding & Nursery, Crop Technology, Production, Trading & Retail, Processing Machinery, Packaging Materials, Fresh Cut, Dried Fruit, Logistics, and Services). This new location will facilitate connections thanks to the presence, inside the premises, of an underground railway station of the line connecting Milan to Bari. It will also create new synergies since Flora Trade, the international floriculture trade show, will be held at the same time. The 2015 edition of Macfrut will feature a wide range of offers related to innovation. Over the last few days, the Macfrut Consumer’s Trend was officially presented, a tool set up in collaboration with the cooperative company CSO - Centro Servizi Ortofrutticoli, which, every month, will release information and data regarding fruit and vegetable consumption, paying special attention to cutting-edge trends to trace the behavioural patterns of consumers towards new products or offer segments in supply chains characterised by a high level of innovation. “The Macfrut Consumers’ Trend is not just an analysis/study observatory but rather a more extensive project to re-launch the fruit and vegetable supply chain in Italy," explains Renzo Piraccini, President of Cesena Fiera. "The first report highlights a key figure: growth cannot be achieved without innovation. Those who have invested in this field and implemented systems can show that they have managed to better face the challenges posed by the global market on a daily basis." The other major theme of the Italian Fruit & Vegetable Trade Fair is internationalisation. This year, a strategic partnership was established with Unicredit, the leading banking group in Central and Eastern Europe, which has taken and will take Macfrut all the way to Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Turkey. Macfrut's internationalisation process will continue as a joint effort, also focusing on Maghreb countries (Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia), with which important relations have been established thanks to the collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as with South American countries (primarily Brazil and the Dominican Republic). As proof of the great interest that the project is raising in the Italian and international fruit and vegetable industry, the Macfrut re-launch operation has already attracted high-profile international participants. These include Sun World, California's world-leading giant in the breeding of new varieties of seedless grapes, including Sugrathirteen Midnight Beauty® and Sugranineteen Scarlotta Seedless®, as well as plums, such as the Black Diamond® and Black Giant® series. Zespri, New Zealand’s world-leading giant in the kiwifruit market, will also be attending Macfrut.