World Food Istanbul, the international meeting platform of the Turkish food industry, is preparing to introduce many new products and the latest technologies to the food industry
Welcoming 1,117 exhibitors from 38 countries and a total of 64,146 visitors from 161 countries last year, the International Food Products and Technologies Exhibition – WorldFood Istanbul not only created new business and partnership opportunities in its 31st year, but also offered a productive exhibition experience with its informative and inspiring events.
WorldFood Istanbul Exhibition achieved a historical success by increasing the number of visitors by 67% compared to last year, and 30% of its visitors were international visitors in 2023. The exhibition, which hosted a total of 19,543 international visitors, increased the number of international visitors from the previous year by over 55%.
65% of the areas in the exhibition, where exhibitors and visitors will have the opportunity to see innovations and products in the market, access international and domestic companies, and develop relations with suppliers and manufacturers in 2024, have already been booked.
The aim is to host over 900 buyers from about 80 countries from Europe, the Middle East, Africa (North Africa), and the Turkic Republics.
WorldFood Istanbul, which brought to the stage many guiding issues for sustainable investments, technological developments, and export-oriented projects by showing a realistic future vision to the sector with its event program last year and examined the subjects that steer the future of the food sector with over 50 experts and 20 different leading institutions, will bring together sector professionals for the 32nd time by welcoming visitors and exhibitors with its event program this year.
Besides creating new business and partnership opportunities, 32nd WorldFood Istanbul, which prepares for providing a productive exhibition experience with its events full of information and inspiration, will continue to strengthen its feature of being a “regional and international vision platform” with its insights into Türkiye’s food and food technologies sector in addition to its chock-full of event program.
Exhibition Director Semi Benbanaste expressed the importance of the exhibition in the light of the developments in the food sector:
“In our exhibition which reached record numbers in its 31st year, we hosted more than 800 international hosted buyers from 73 countries and advanced to the highest level. We worked so hard to promote our exhibition globally and encourage international participation.
We brought together exhibitors from various food sectors and places in order to become a site of attraction that brings together all the buyers and sellers from around the world.
Upon a closer look at the developments in the food sector in 2023, we see that the demand for the import of agricultural and food products has increased in many countries
with the interruptions in the supply chains of agricultural and food products.
Türkiye continued to meet the increasing import demands in the first three quarters of 2023 as an important supplier of agricultural and food products in its region. Food and Agricultural Products Import reached $15.15 billion in the first 9 months.
According to the 2021 Foreign Trade Data Report published by the Federation of Food and Drink Industry Associations of Türkiye, Türkiye’s exports in the agriculture, food, and beverage industriesreached $22.9 billion with an increase of 21% compared to last year, and its imports reached $17.2 billion with an increase of 22%.
This growth is especially evident in the confectionery, Turkish delight and halva industry, which has a history dating back hundreds of years. Türkiye’s exports of confectionery and
chocolate confectionery products in the January-November period of 2022 reached $1.939 billion with an increase of 12% compared to the previous year.
These positive developments show that the Turkish food and beverage industry is increasingly in demand in the international market. In this context, the 2024 WorldFood Istanbul Food Exhibition has critical importance in terms of Türkiye’s growth and
increasing foreign trade volume in the food industry.
The exhibition will be an important platform to increase the international brand recognition of the Turkish confectionery, Turkish delight and halva industry and adapt to global demands, while also allowing the professionals in the industry to establish new business networks, develop collaborations and follow industrial innovations by gathering together.
In addition to these developments, the markets of the USA, China, South Korea, Germany, France, India, Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Indonesia, and the UK will come to the forefront in 2024, according to the ‘Target Country Analysis Report in Agriculture, Food, and Forestry Products Foreign Trade’ published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Our exhibition is the most important meeting point in the industry for the countries in the region.
In the trade between the countries in the region, the most extensive access opportunities are also provided for the third countries.
Especially with the need for healthy food and food safety that emerged after the pandemic and with food safety becoming a critical issue after the war between Russia and Ukraine, WorldFood Istanbul has become the most important platform for secure and continuous food trade in the region.
The innovations in the agriculture-food industry also reach the countries in the region primarily through this exhibition.
While the exhibition is an important promotion ground for production technologies, product technologies and new products, it also develops the agriculture-food trade, steers the sector, and contributes to the development of the agriculture-food sectors of the countries in the region.
The world price and the world supply-demand balance are now more important determinants than ever.
In an environment where world prices are decreasing, the support for the increase in exchange rates for exports is limited. In addition, the supports provided in the export are significant determinants in export strategies. The amount of support for products, especially for products such as citrus fruits, promotes export.
The global supply chains in the food sector have been broken due to the pandemic, climate change, and geopolitical developments and are now in a reconstruction process.
In this process, Türkiye must first improve its self-sufficiency capacity in the agriculture-food sector. In this framework, the best adaptation to global dynamics will be achieved by ensuring self-sufficiency in every field and food safety domestically.
We aim to exponentially increase the success of our exhibition as well as the added value that we contribute to the country’s economy with more innovation, greater cooperations and more participation in 2024 as we level up the increasing satisfaction of both visitors and exhibitors in our 32nd year. We will continue writing this story of success together.”
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