UAE and Saudi Arabian fruit and vegetable professionals conclude successful Fruit Attraction event

Fruit Attraction 2022, the leading event for the global fruit and vegetable sector, has concluded following
a successful event in Madrid, which welcomed international participants from
the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

As part of the Guest Importing Country Programme, among the Middle East
buyers represented were Panada Retail Company and Waha Fruits Trading
Company, both based in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking at the event, a representative of Panda Retail Company said: “Fruit
Attraction has evolved tremendously in recent years, giving exporters in Spain
and other regions the opportunities to work with companies around the world in
more innovative ways. Fruit Attraction remains one of Europe’s most important
fruit and vegetable events, where you can find suppliers from around the world
all under one roof.”

The event, organised and hosted at the IFEMA MADRID exhibition centre in
partnership with FEPEX, welcomed 89,535 professionals from 137 countries
during the three-day event and 1,740 exhibitors from 57 countries.

Exhibitors were primarily made up of European countries representing Italy,
France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium,
as well as the Americas with exhibitors from countries such as Ecuador, the
United States, Chile and Colombia, and from Africa.

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Once again, Fresh Produce, the exhibition area for fruit and vegetable
producers and traders, was the most populated area, accounting for 72%.
However, this year’s edition also saw a 57% increase in the Fresh Food
Logistics area and a near 100% increase in Smart Agro.

A focus of the event was innovation within the sector, with The Innovation Hub
providing a platform for 46 products and services. Among those recognised
were Fruit and vegetable wholesaler Surinver in the Fresh Produce category; leading
agriculture company Syngenta in the Fruit and Vegetable Industry category;
and cherry tomato producer Granada La Palma in the Sustainability and
Commitment Actions category.

María José Sánchez, Director of Fruit Attraction, said: “A full conference
schedule made Fruit Attraction the knowledge centre for the sector and
included three congresses and 84 presentations, which were all delivered by
high-level speakers and informed decision makers.

“Some of the highlights included the 3 rd Fresh Food Logistics Summit, the
Biofruit Congress, Biotech Attraction 2022 and the 6 th Grape Attraction
Congress, and other sessions such as Public funding lines for expenditure and
investment in research and innovation in the fruit and vegetable sector; and the
New Regulation on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products: complex,
unrealistic and with a direct impact on European agriculture.

“All of which contributed to the outstanding success of the event.”
The fair was the setting for the prize-giving ceremony for the Fruit Attraction
Podcast Contest: #agroinspiration stories, which Huertas, the origin from
Cricket, won this year. The competition was set up to support new
communication formats within the agri-food sector.

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Fruit Attraction once again promoted the donation of fruit and vegetables from
exhibitors for the Madrid Food Bank, which managed to collect 39,000 kilos of
fruit and vegetable products, distributed among 565 charities registered in the
Community of Madrid, and serve 186,000 people every day.

Organised by IFEMA MADRID and FEPEX, Fruit Attraction 2023 will be held
from 3 to 5 October at the fairgrounds.