Alimentary 2014 takes impulse to four months of his celebration

The beautiful frame of the Llotja of Sea of Barcelona was is stage chosen by Alimentary Exhibitions to realizar the international presentation of the twentieth edition of Alimentary, focalizada entirely in the external market, championing the innovation and the quality of the sector. Of 31 March to 3 April, the Big enclosure Via will receive to 3.800 companies that will occupy the 85.000 m² net planned. The organisation estimates to surpass the 140.000 visitors of 2012, 35% pertinent of out of our borders.

The general director of Alimentary Exhibitions and maximum executive of the living room, J. Antonio Valls, explains that Alimentary 2014 has dumped in attracting the best international demand. “The foreign operators will find in the fair the magnitude, fortress, innovative character and exporting potential of our industry agroalimentaria”, ensures Valls. The aim is to achieve agendar more than 8.000 meetings of work between display units and professional of delegations visitors of 60 countries. Valls recalca: “Alimentary reinforces the already of by himself natural external vocation of this industry, consolidating as an effective platform so that the companies participants, especially SMEs, access to new markets”.

The institutional support remains guaranteeed as they showed during the presentation all the administrations. Heading the comitiva of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feeding and Environingingment found Isabel García Tejerina, general secretary of Agriculture and Feeding, the one who resaltó the importance of Alimentary like world-wide referent of the sector, and exponent of the quality and diversity of the agroalimentación Spanish. In an institutional pavilion of 184 m will expose products of the feeding, as well as the results of the works of the Department with the sector and the promotional campaigns that are realizar for the period 2013-2014.

On the other hand, and given the Spanish leadership in surface of ecological agriculture, with 1,7 million hectares, the general secretary advanced that “it has decided continue working with the employers in the promotion of this sector”. For this will have a pavilion of 824 m in which they will be represented the majority of the ecological producers and the Autonomous Communities that bet by this form of production. Incidentally, it signalled García Tejerina, and thanks to the agreement reached with Alimentary and with the FENIL, “the Ministry will have also an important presence in a zone expositiva that will be allocated to give to know the program of Sustainable Dairy Products”, set up in this year, in defence of the dairy sector.

The president of the Spanish Federation of Industries of the Feeding and Drunk (FIAB), Pedro Astals, went the attendant to present to the present public in the Llotja of Sea some data that can consider more than hopeful. Although in 2012 it invoiceed 2,68% less (86.298 million euros), the tendency keeps on being positive, this yes thanks to the beneficial effect of the exports. The sector has achieved to keep a growth sustained in the last two decades, and has attained to surpass the 80.000 million euros of turnover all the years since it began the crisis, an equivalent figure to 7,6% of the national GDP and 14% of the sales of the industrial segment. For Astals the potential keeps on being very big, with a growth sustained until 2020 of 3,7% annual, year in that the volume of turnover rondará the 110.000 millions.

For the good operation of the sector results fundamental the internationalisation. At present it exports 28,5% of the total turnover of the industry, and to be still in this line, will reach 40% at the end of the decade. The sector is one of the few that keeps from does years the commercial scales in positive, reaching in 2012 the 3.026 millions when having, with 22.078 millions exported by the 19.052 mattered. In 2015 Spain can even reach Italy in exports. Although the EU keeps on being our big market (71%), exist other markets like the American or the Asian that are growing quickly.

For the general secretary of the FIAB although our alimentary industry has fortresses like his strategic positioning, the commercial scales, his big assortment of products of quality and insurance, an alimentary culture rooted or a sector with a good reputation, still remain duties, as for example an excess of regulation that has to simplify and a disequilibrium in the alimentary chain. For Pedro Astals exist three big challenges: “Efficiency, the creation of value with products diferenciadores and the internationalisation”.

Who better to be able to expresses what means the Spanish feeding that the owner of the best restaurant of the world? Joan Rock, chef of the Celler of Can Rock, went one of the big protagonists of the two round tables that closed the presentation of Alimentary 2014. In the table that carried the title 'The big momentum international of the Spanish gastronomy', Rock wanted to remember that “the fact that Spain have the best restaurants of the world benefits so much to our producers as to our hoteleros, offering an image of excellence of the Spanish tourism. And it left two significant data on the table to the hour to quantify the impact that can have the fact to turn into better restaurant of the world: in the 24 back hours to the official nomination there was two million visits to the web of the restaurant and 54 are the countries of origin of the 10.000 last commensals of the Celler of Can Rock.

Beside Rock, Inés Menéndez, the director of the Division of Foods and gastronomia of the Icex; the pioneer in gastronomic tourism and producer for the New York Times of the series 'Taste of the world', Doug Doda; and the partner of the agency of gastronomic tourism 'To Taste of Spain', Marta Angulo, gave his particular point of view on the importance of our gastronomy in the international field.

Joan Rock (centre) gave his particular vision on the importance of the gastronomy for the producers and our tourism.