25th anniversary: Sana pleased with surge in visitor numbers

According to the latest data made public at Sana, the Italian organic market has a turnover of nearly €3bn, which puts Italy in third place in Europe after Germany and France. Market research data tell us that the turnover of organics in Italy grew by 7.3 % in 2012, and in the first four months of 2013 turnover in the conventional retail food trade was, according to Ismea/ GfK Euriko, 8.8 % higher than last year.

The experts at Cosmetica Italia have established growth in turnover of natural cosmetics of 3.5 % in the first half of 2013, and they anticipate a rise to more than €410m by the end of the year. Between 2010 and 2012, the number of specialist organic shops rose from 1,163 to 1,270 (BioBank). Also in 2012, organically farmed land expanded by 6.4 % to approximately 1,167 million hectares. Nearly 50,000 companies are active in the organic sector (excluding retail): farms (40,146), processors and manufacturers (9,266) and import/export (297).
(Picture: Italy’s organic and natural cosmetics market is developing positively)

With 32,400 visitors, the 25th Sana attracted 20 % more people than last year. What motivated them to come to Sana probably included the following highlights: the Indian seed activist and winner of the Alternative Novel Prize Vandana Shiva came to open the anniversary fair in Bologna. It benefited from Italy’s most important wholefood wholesaler, Ecor, and its partner NaturaSi, the biggest chain in the industry, being widely represented, and they were presumably the reason why many retailers attended. A focal point was the exhibition area (3,200 m²) designed as a market place with 130 suppliers of the Ecor-NaturSi-Group.
(Picture: NaturaSi built up a complete organic supermarket at the Sana Shop area on the first floor)

(Pictures from left: The lively market place atmosphere was also appreciated by the exhibitors; pictures below Lammsbräu, Taifun, Lavera)



Presenting themselves at the fair were producers of fresh foods and both domestic and international brand manufacturers of food and natural cosmetics. Among the companies from Germany were Barnhouse, Lavera, Neumarkter, Rapunzel, Taifun, Topas and Vivani. The managing director of Ecor, Fabio Brescacin, said that the company would attend next year instead of holding its own company fair at its headquarters in Conegliano (Veneto). (Picture: BioLatina, one of the leading organic producers, and other fresh food suppliers present themselves at the Ecor market place) 

The Sana Shop on the top floor in Hall 34 was a new departure. They built a fully fitted out NaturaSi supermarket with 570 m² and 3,000 products to entice people to come in and do some shopping. Next to it was a NaturaSi gelateria, where there were always people queuing, just as they did at the checkouts in the NaturaSi supermarket. People crowded round some of the stands of firms selling food supplements, natural cosmetics, natural textiles, furniture, books and esoteric products.
(Picture: The NaturaSi supermarket and the NaturaSi gelateria at Sana were very popular with visitors)

(Pictures from left: Taifun Tofu, NaturaSi supermarket, Segreti della Natur with natural personal care)



A big attraction was the Indoor VeganFest, mounted by the vegan association AssoVegan and the organization VeganOk, that was integrated into Sana. A podium programme with lectures and awards and accompanied by corresponding stands was also held on the first level in Hall 34.The vegan movement is spreading like wildfire in Italy. According to Sauro Martella (picture), the main motive is animal protection. There are said to be about 700,000 vegans in Italy already. The biggest vegan festival, with around 30,000 people taking part, is held in the summer in Tuscany. The organization VeganOk has developed standards, certifies food, cosmetics, shoes, clothing, restaurants and shops. The VeganOK label can already be seen on a lot of packaging. Attending Sana was the Swiss online supplier Vegusto, that is represented in France and Italy as well as the German-speaking countries.

It was not just the visit of Vandana Shiva that demonstrated how international the Italian Exhibition of Organic and Natural Products has become. She took part in the opening ceremony of the 25th fair and promoted her project SeedFreedom. The Buyer Lounge (picture) had already been set up in 2012 and it proved to be a great success, with about 100 B2B meetings taking place. This closed area – you can only enter by registering in advance –was this year used once again for match-making. Retailers from Germany, Belgium, France, the Baltic States, Russia, Scandinavia and the USA took the opportunity to maker contacts and set up business relations with Italian firms and businesses. In the context of the current promotion campaign in South Korea for organic food and natural cosmetics Made in Italy, 19 exhibitors came from South Korea to take part in Sana 2013.

From 2014, new partners are coming on board: the trade fairs Nuce, the international fair for nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals, and Food-Ing, the exhibition for ingredients for the food and beverages industry, will run in parallel with Sana on the Bologna exhibition site. Sana also announced what it is doing to ensure sustainability: the exhibition will be designed and implemented more sustainably thanks to the project Eco&Logico in collaboration with the company Pegaso Management. Improvements were already in evidence: most of the floors were not carpeted, waste was separated for collection and the exhibition stands were recyclable.