Sebastián Plaza commercial manager from Frutexa evaluated positively the participation of the Chilean delegation in the SIAL event, highlighting that it was an excellent opportunity to close sales and work the last available stocks in a context with less offer in comparison to the previous years.
Even though Frutexsa already has a solid network of customers in more than 60 countries, Plaza underlined that SIAL offers the opportunity to connect with emergent actors from the retail. Thus, for the company, he adds, the main goal from SIAL was to strengthen relationships with present customers and discuss business plans for the future more than to make direct sales.
This year, the event had news regarding the design with a new stand from ProChile which improved privacy and the exposers experience. Even more, the Chilean pavilion was well positioned in an important area for the dried fruits and prunes, next to INC pavilion, attracting specialized buyers making it easier to hold strategic meetings with new importers. “Then, the customers walking by the stands were people that knew about the business; they knew it fully.”
The executive also talked about how this year has been and the expectations for next year.
“In general, the prunes were sold very fast this year. This is due to several factors, a key one the Chinese demand, a demand difficult to understand because last year they bought 18,000 tons and this year we calculate is will be 27, 000 tons”.
For 2025, we will depend on the harvest and the Chinese demand “which has proved to be very uneven for the prunes; their purchases fluctuate according to price expectations. Non the less, not considering China, the global market has shown signs or recuperation, with an active consumption and prices that have allowed to steady the demand”. In this context, Sebastián Plaza sees a favorable outlook for the prunes in the short term, with an improvement in the demand in key markets as Europe and America and other countries in Asia.
Around 80% of the Chilean prune exporting strength, represented by companies associated to Chileprunes, was present at SIAL and showed its satisfaction with the results of the event, the world most important event for the agri-food sector that can only be compared to Anuga (Germany) which takes place in odd years.
Successful event
SIAL, Paris, which took place in October, closed with a remarkable success attracting more than 285,000 professionals from the food sector from all over the world. This event is key for discovering innovations and emerging trends that define the future of nutrition globally.
Among the highlighted topics was the sustainability with many exposers focused in plant-based foods and solutions to reduce food waste. Also, there were new and healthy products like new kinds of fermented foods that took the center stage showing the interest in health and culinary culture in the world.
Moreover, SIAL prompted the conversation about technology in the food industry focusing in artificial intelligence to improve food safety and to manage the production in a more efficient way. These topics not only show the improvement in production and technology but also reflect a growing interest in products with an ethical and environmental responsiblity approach.
This event confirms the position of SIAL as one of the biggest global forums for the food industry and an essential place to anticipate the future of food and drinks.
