New exhibitions and acquisitions of company holdings to strengthen the promotion of Italian-made agro-food products abroad.
It is called VPE (Verona Parma Exhibitions) the new company created by Veronafiere and Fiere di Parma, which together represent the first direct organizer of exhibitions dedicated to the agricultural and agri-food sector in Italy and rank at the top in Europe in the segment. The two spas are the second national exhibition center both for consolidated turnover in 2016 with 127 million euro (88 Verona, 39 Parma), and for gross covered area with a total of 283 thousand square meters (153 Verona, 130 Parma).
In 2016 Verona and Parma organized a total of 91 exhibitions and events in Italy and abroad (67 Verona, 24 Parma) for 1.8 million visitors (1.3 Verona, and 0.5 Parma) and 21.350 exhibitors (14.000 Verona and 7.350 Parma). And they are two international platforms for the agro-food export of the country, with brands recognized in the food & wine sector such as: Vinitaly, Sol & Agrifood, Enolitech, OperaWine, Vinitaly International Academy (VeronaFiere) and Cibus, CibusTec, Cibus Connect and Cibus Market Check (Fiere di Parma).
The agri-food sector is a driving force for the Italian economy and this year, according to data from Nomisima Agrifood Monitor, it will exceed 40 billion euros in exports with a growth of over 6% on 2016, for a total value of 130 billion of euros, from agricultural production to catering.
The new company, with equal shares between Verona and Parma, was presented at a press conference in the presence of the mayor of Verona, Federico Sboarina, of the presidents and CEOs of the Spa of Verona and Parma, respectively, Maurizio Danese, Gian Domenico Auricchio, Giovanni Mantovani, Antonio Cellie, and of the president of ICE Agency, Michele Scannavini.
The company's first step is the organization of a new exhibition, WI.BEV - International Wine and Beverage Technologies Event - dedicated to the wine & beverage technologies sector (www.wibev.com) which looks to Italy with its manufacturing excellence in the sector, but also to important, rapidly developing geo-economic areas - Asia and Africa - as well as to established markets such as North America.
At the preview under way in the wine2wine, the update, training and networking of Vinitaly - Veronafiere, there are about twenty companies present, all top players in the market, while for the technical-scientific part Assoenologi provides its expertise for the updating of the operators of the supply chain.
In terms of foreign promotion, the first VPE shares will be the acquisition of a significant share of a trade show player operating in the Food & Beverage sector in Europe and North America, and the development of a Cibus & Vinitaly format for new fair or collateral events at consolidated events.
Daniele Toni