‘Convincing appearance and high degree of exhibitor satisfaction’ draws crowds at ProSweets Cologne

ProSweets organisers are claiming positive results for the 2020 exhibition with more than 18,000 trade visitors from more than 100 countries registered over the course of the four days of the fair. The share of foreign visitors was around 70 per cent.

Gerald Böse, president and chief executive officer of Koelnmesse said ProSweets Cologne 2020 was able to fulfil the expectations of the exhibitors to a high degree.

“The international supplier trade fair for the sweets industry convinced the suppliers this year above all with the quality of its trade visitors and high share of decision-makers. Beyond this, the trade fair impressed with future-oriented themes such as sustainable packing, resource-saving production, flexible machines and natural ingredients. Not least the unique combination of ISM in the direct vicinity offers high added value for the industry, because this is the only place where the entire value chain of the sweets and snacks industry is covered completely,” Böse explained.

The ProSweets Cologne exhibitors said “the high quality of the trade visitors was of central importance for the success of the trade fair”.

According to the trade visitor survey, the share of decision-makers from the management floors and production departments lay at over 80 per cent. Alongside production managers from leading companies, numerous medium-sized and smaller companies also came to gather information.

The trade visitor survey also demonstrated that the trade visitors were highly interested in new products and had a concrete purchase interest. The exhibitors also confirmed this. The satisfaction of the exhibitors is also reflected in the initial number of registrations received for ProSweets Cologne 2021. Beyond this, 92 per cent would recommend a good business friend to visit the trade fair and around 80 per cent of the trade visitors were satisfied to very satisfied with their visit to ProSweets Cologne.
At around 70 per cent, the share of foreign visitors remained at a constantly high level. Once again, the highest numbers of foreign visitors were registered from the neighbouring European countries.

Highlights for visitors were the ingredients section, flexible machines that can be adapted to changed recipes and demands, and resource-saving packaging solutions such as the “Labels made of grass paper” by Froben Druck from Germany.

The future congress #CONNECT2030 – The Future Summit for Sweets and Snacks that was staged for the first time by ProSweets Cologne and ISM were also very well-attended.

The announcement by ProSweets Cologne that it intends to reinforce the Ingredients section in the coming year, met with great interest among the exhibitors. In the future, the section will serve as a source of inspiration for new concepts and product ideas for the development of alternative products and product variants. This will encompass raw materials, ingredients as well as semi-finished products.
By the end of the trade fair, ISM had registered around 37,000 visitors from 148 countries. ISM recorded a 7.5 per cent increase in the number of exhibitors: 1,774 exhibitors from 76 countries presented sweets and snacks from all over the world.
ProSweets Cologne 2020 in numbers:

• 260 suppliers from 32 countries exhibited at ProSweets Cologne 2020.
• 67 per cent of whom came from abroad. These included 86 exhibitors from Germany and 174 exhibitors from abroad.
• Over 18,000 trade visitors from more than 100 countries attended ProSweets Cologne 2020, the foreign share was around 70 per cent.

The next edition of ProSweets Cologne is scheduled to take place from 31 January to 3 February 2021.