BioFach 2009: a huge success

Neither economic crisis nor constant snowstorms could deter the international organic world: around 47,000 visitors streamed into the BioFach trade fair in Nuremberg between the 19 and 22 February. Once again, 38 % of visitors were from abroad, with specialist customers coming from 130 countries. After Germany, they came mainly from Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark. The visitors were clearly very impressed by the rich, lavish and creative displays of the 2,744 exhibitors, two-thirds of whom were from abroad. Whilst the number of visitors and exhibitors was roughly the same as last year, the display area increased by 7 % to 50,500 m², with BioFach exhibitors occupying 12 halls! (Picture: Fashion show at the press conference)
This was the 20th anniversary of the first BioFach, and Claus Rättich, a member of the management board of NürnbergMesse, commented: “In this anniversary year of the world organic trade fair, discussions have continued to address important topics like sustainability and values in the organic industry. More than 1,500 people took advantage of the specialist trade day, the Fair & Ethical Trade Forum and the first sustainability conference two days before BioFach opened to exchange ideas and views (report to follow shortly).

It was a festival for all fans of Scandinavian delicacies and Danish organics (picture on left). The Country of the Year was an inspiration, with 45 exhibitors and well over 1,000 specialist visitors who had come all the way from Denmark to Nürnberg. It is to the credit of the Danes that they not only have the highest per capita consumption of organics in the EU but were also such an impressive presence at BioFach and Vivaness 2009.

Natural cosmetics were once again a success story: practically every second visitor enquired about trends and innovations at Vivaness. 204 natural cosmetics exhibitors from 23 countries thrilled the public in Hall 7A, the daylight hall, and sections of Hall 7. Exhibitors came from Germany (100), France (30), Italy (15), Austria (10) and Switzerland (8). Information on new products by well known German market leaders and special tips were on hand for visitors. This year saw cosmetics manufacturers from Brazil, Columbia, Macedonia, Swaziland and the Czech Republic coming to Nuremberg for the first time.

Fashionable styles conquered the world trade fair for organic products: 47 exhibitors of natural textiles and eco-fashion introduced themselves for the first time in the new textile area of BioFach. In this special area, on a light and ultra-modern platform, the manufacturers of of green and ethically acceptable fashions presented their creations. The stylish lounge in this section provides people with an ideal environment to meet, chat and discuss business. When the fair came to an end, Bernd Hausmann, a consultant on eco-textiles to BioFach, pointed out just how successful the textile area had been with visitors and that exhibitors were all very pleased with this new departure. Retailers, producers of advert-clothing and textile agencies had all shown a high level of interest. “At a stroke, BioFach has become the second biggest eco-textile fair in Germany,” said Mr Hausmann who runs Glore, the specialist shop for natural textiles in Nuremberg. (Picture on left: Fashion show for the press on the day before the fair opened)

At a press conference on the day before the fair opened Bernd Diederichs (picture), the managing director of NürnbergMesse, drew attention to the new exhibition space devoted to Fair Trade and Green Fashion. Mr Diederichs, who sees himself as belonging to the Lohas group, pointed to the fact that fair trade was one of the original aims of the founders of the company. He was also pleased with BioFach’s new approach: “BioFach represents a new departure in trade fairs, because a well attended congress runs parallel to the fair, and normally conference events are not organised at the same time.”

Andreas Ritter-Ratjen (picture), a board member of BNN Herstellung und Handel (representing the interests of the wholefood industry) (“in my free time I’m a wholesaler in Schleswig-Holstein”), estimated growth in the wholefood wholesale trade – not to be confused with much lower wholefood turnover in the retail sector – at 7.4 % or 1.85 billion euros. Mr Ritter-Ratjen was pleased that in the previous year they had been able to stabilise the price of organic milk at a high level that meant dairy farmers received a fair price. He said that this was a “success of the supply chain”, and the aim was to achieve a permanent “eco-social milk price”. According to the statistics of the market and price monitoring organisation ZMP, the price of organic milk in 2008 was between 43 and 50 cents a litre above the price of conventional milk. He pointed out that the BNN industry code endorses eco-social development and for the first time formalises the values and aims of the industry. He went on to thank the management of NürnbergMesse for acknowledging the industry with the introduction of the specialist trade day. As far as the prospects for 2009 were concerned, he anticipated further growth, and he considered 7 % growth in the wholefood specialist trade a realistic figure (corresponding to what he saw happening in the wholesale trade).

Amarjit Sahota, an expert working for Organic Monitor in London, summarised the situation in the international organic markets. Since 1999, the worldwide organic market had grown by 200 %. In 2007, turnover of organic food worldwide was US$ 46.1 billion, with Europe and North America accounting for the lion’s share (54 % and 43 % respectively). All other countries accounted for just 3 %. In reality, these countries have higher organic consumption, but maunufacturers frequently do not have organic certification.

The figure given for the turnover of natural cosmetics in Europe in 2007 was 2.1 billion US dollars, which represents 3 % of total turnover for cosmetics (5 % in Germany). He anticipated growth rising to 10 %. His figure for Fair Trade turnover was 3.3 billion dollars and 47 % for market growth in 2007. As a consequence of the economic downturn, this expert thinks that both investment in the organic industry and the purchasing power of consumers may well decline. The likely result is people doing their shopping in cheaper outlets. The consultancy Organic Monitor was founded in 2001 and has now produced 100 studies. (Picture on left: Denmark’s personable Minister of Agriculture, Eva Kjer-Hansen, at the opening of BioFach. Picture above: Party at the Danish Pavilion)

With the agreement of BioFach’s committee of specialists, it was decided that next year the fair will start on Wednesday and run until Saturday. So in 2010 the international organic industry will meet from Wednesday 17 February to Saturday 20 February in Nuremberg. The next date for BioFach fairs abroad is the premiere of BioFach India from 29 April to 1 May 2009 in Mumbai. In 2008 the home fair in Nuremberg, together with the international fairs held in Japan, USA, Brazil and China, brought together around 4,000 exhibitors and 100,000 visitors.

For Hubert Rottner, who together with Hagen Sunder launched the first BioFach 20 years ago, the fair has developed amazingly. However, he was anticipating these developments 10 years ago when BioFach was taken over by NürnbergMesse. He would like to see far more appreciation of the organic industry by the state, “because we’ve done a lot more for the protection of the environment and biodiversity than many official environmental programmes.” In his view, there is still a great deal to be done in order to achieve “organics for everybody”.