UIV and Ipack Ima: A new strategic agreement

Simei 2026 sees the launch of Bevertech, the trade fair specialising in the Liquid Food & Beverage sector

UIV-Unione Italiana Vini and Ipack Ima have signed a strategic agreement aimed at opening up new exhibition opportunities. Signed on the occasion of SIMEI 2024, the International Enological and Bottling Equipment Exhibition, the agreement envisages the co-organisation of a new vertical exhibition dedicated to the Liquid Food & Beverage sector: Bevertech.

SIMEI expresses world leadership as an event dedicated to machinery and products for oenology, spirits, oil and beer. Complementing this, Ipack Ima is the point of reference for packaging, processing and materials technologies for a varied universe of products that includes soft drinks, milk, soft drinks, mineral water, beer, functional & energy drinks, juices, baby drinks and baby food, as well as soups, dressings and sauces.

Together, these two souls want to preside over a global market in an integrated manner, aiming to consolidate a network that favours the meeting between supply and demand, increasing development opportunities for companies and promoting best practices in the sector at an international level.

The synergy between SIMEI and Ipack Ima is therefore ideal for an innovative exhibition proposal with technological innovation, internationality and sustainability at its centre.

With this new partnership, Ipack Ima continues to implement its industrial plan of internationalisation and specialisation in vertical business communities, whose objective is to offer an excellent, integrated and international exhibition proposal aimed at global markets.

"Verticality and innovation of the offer on the integrated platform of Ipack Ima, this is the action we are implementing. This year we have strengthened collaborations and activated new strategic alliances, in full coherence with the industrial plan, and this new agreement is proof of that.- asserts Valerio Soli, president of Ipack Ima - Our goal is to become an ecosystem of specialised and complementary trade fairs capable of fostering contaminations that play the role of business accelerator".

"Verticality and specialisation," said the CEO of Unione italiana vini Servizi, Paolo Castelletti, " increasingly represent the future of international business fairs, to the benefit of companies. The beverage industry is an industry that finds its natural home in Italy and cannot do without the wine sector, which is strongly represented at a leading trade fair like Simei. We have great confidence in this partnership, which allows new developments and opportunities for a growing trade fair like ours'.

Proof of the evolutionary potential of the Liquid Food & Beverage sector is provided by the data, which globally estimate a high average annual growth rate, both in terms of production and technology. Worldwide, in fact, the production of beverages and liquid food will reach a value of more than € 1,600 billion by the end of 2024 with a growth forecast of + 4.7%. Leading the way is the USA with € 218.9 bn, followed by Germany with € 53.3 bn, France with € 46.2 bn and Italy with € 40.9 bn. When it comes to packaging machinery, the liquid food and beverage sector is a global market worth € 14.9 bn with an average annual growth rate of +2.9. Turning our gaze to the processing and preparation machinery segment on the other hand, the value expressed will stand at € 23 bn worldwide at the end of 2024, with an estimated average growth of +5.5%. (Source: Ucima/Mecs)