Alimentaria Castilla y León receives about 27,000 professionals in its 12th Edition

Juan Vicente Herrera, the Chairman of the Board, opened the show stating that the event "is a true showcase of a sector particularly brilliant and dynamic of our economy and a barometer of the current situation". The Chairman highlighted the important presence of private enterprise, the participation of more than 1,100 exhibitors and parallel activities that took place during these days, with special reference to the Forum of agri-food Marketing, which noted that "is in line to promote the commercialization of the sector and that it has a lot to do with the point of" "view of a fair open to the illusion".

The Forum of agri-food Marketing organized by the Ministry of agriculture and livestock was attended with more than 2,800 registered in six conferences, in which international experts spoke of concepts such as the power of negotiation, the approach to the client, the brand strategy, innovation and specific cases of Wal-Mart and Tesco.

'New strategies for action in the market' was the common thread in this forum, whose first presentation was made by Don Peppers, creator of the concept 'one to one marketing', who spoke on 'The power of a strategy focused on the client when it comes to innovate'.

At the international level, were about 200 importers who came in the mission promoted by the Ministry of economy and employment through ADE international Excal. The initial interest of these buyers, from 38 countries of America, Asia, Oceania and Europe, focused on wine, dairy, baked goods, oil, meat, selection gourmet, canned foods, etc.

The Chairman of the Committee Executive of Feria de Valladolid, José Rolando Álvarez, pointed out that in the current situation is made even more necessary exit to international markets, thus dampening the reduction in national consumption. The interest of the wines "should be the door from which importers have access also to the other products offered by Spanish manufacturers".

Alimentaria Castilla y León provided various scenarios work which exhibitors and visitors could carry out their job interviews and taste the exhibited products. One of these areas was the 'direct space', in which 40 companies presented nearly 90 wines and cheeses.

Next to each product contained a factsheet which identified data such as characteristics of varieties of grapes or type of used milk, production capacity, identity of the manufacturer and its location at the fair, to facilitate the match between exhibitor and buyer.

The catalogue of wines and cheeses presented included white, red, pink, sweet, sparkling, young, crianza, reserves, ecological production, fresh cheeses, cured, soft, blue, made with milk of cow, sheep, goat, mixing, etc. Most of them, covered by quality labels.

Alimentaria Castilla y León organized a programme of 17 focused tasting to the dissemination of products which, in most cases, are covered by quality labels such as appellations of origin, protected geographical indication or guarantee brand.

The main recipients of these tastings were restaurateurs, restaurateurs and purchasers, to give to know the character of wines, cheeses, water, bread, chocolate and meat products which starred in those meetings.