The event, which took place in Rimini, Italy, from May 4 to 6 and featured the cherry as its symbol fruit, was attended by more than 800 exhibitors from around the world and a large number of visitors over its three days.
The international trade fair for the fresh produce industry, held from 4 to 6 May at the Rimini Expo Center, registered 38,500 visitors, an increase of 181% compared to the September 2021 edition. But beyond the numbers, the high quality of the visitors who marked this 39th edition stood out, as a result of the renewed interest in Italian fruit and vegetable production on the part of European retailers, as well as the increase in foreign visitors present at the fair.
Although only 8 months have passed since the last edition and international tensions continue, there was unanimous recognition from exhibitors, who confirmed Macfrut as the benchmark showcase for Italian fruit and vegetables in the world: «We are proud of this result, so I would like to first of all thank all the exhibitors, all the specialist teams and the Cesena Fiera staff, who have all worked together to organise this great event», said Renzo Piraccini, President of Macfrut, who added: “We have clearly perceived the great potential of this event and we have therefore accepted the challenge that Ice-Agenzia Director Roberto Luongo launched at the opening: to make Macfrut the most important exhibition of the sector in Europe.”
830 exhibitors from all over the world participated in this international event, including the Italian subsidiaries of our partners: Stoller, Agrofresh and Yara, as well as other important companies worldwide.
Chile at Macfrut
Chile was present at Macfrut 2022 through visitors and exhibitors, including Cristián Tagle, President of the ASOEX Cherry Committee and Commercial Manager of Garcés, as well as a Chilean delegation invited by ITA, Italian Trade Agency, and which was made up of: Isabel Vásquez from Agrícola Gold SpA, Hernán Gutiérrez from Copefrut, Adrián González from Delipack, Diego Ruiz-Tagle from Exportadora Reina Sur, Katherine Villegas from exporter Subsole, Francisco Escobar from Fematri, César Montero from Unifrutti, José Tomás Acevedo from Asesorías JT, and Javier Sánchez from Comercial Greenvic.
«The fair this time was quite productive, more technology, quite interesting topics and we must highlight the technological part, there is a lot of innovation in the technological area and this will be very useful for the packaging service in Chile, due to the shortage of labor; this will supply in quite advantageous quantities for the companies that pack and export fruit, to be able, in a certain way, to automate our processes.", said Javier Sánchez, Acquisitions Manager of Comercial Greenvic.
ProChile, a government agency focused on contributing to the sustainable development of the country through the internationalization of Chilean companies and the promotion of goods and services to boost the diversification of exports, was also present at Macfrut 2022.
«We have been participating in this fair for several years, first as visitors and now with a stand; we represent Chilean companies that produce fruit, because Chile is a country that sends a lot of fruit to Italy, everyone knows the quality of Chilean fruit; the advantage that Chile has is that it has other seasons, so when a fruit is not produced here, it is produced there and it arrives in Italy», concluded Vittorio Leonardo Macaluso, Commercial Assistant of ProChile in Italy.
