BioFach China: Brilliant start in Shanghai

The first BioFach China closed its doors on 2 June 2007 with a wonderful result: 216 exhibitors welcomed 7,290 trade visitors. The organizers of the first exhibition in China exclusively for certified organic food, natural cosmetics and natural products were exceptionally satisfied after three intensive days of the exhibition in the Shanghai Everbright Convention & Exhibition Center.

Picture: Opening ceremony at BioFach China

The result exceeded expectations: 10 % international trade visitors from 26 countries. The visitors’ qualifications were also right. Axel Bartkus, Managing Director of NürnbergMesse China Co., Ltd., was delighted in view of the outstanding debut of his first exhibition project after the set-up of the Nürnberg subsidiary in the economic metropolis Shanghai. After Brazil, Japan and the USA, BioFach China is the fourth international offshoot of the world’s leading exhibition BioFach in Nürnberg. On the evening before the opening of BioFach China, the Bavarian Minister of the Interior Dr. Günther Beckstein inaugurated the international subsidiary NürnbergMesse China Co., Ltd. in the presence of many Chinese and international guests. “The highlights of BioFach China were the large number of visitors and the satisfied mood of the exhibitors,” said Axel Bartkus, Asia expert and Managing Director of NürnbergMesse China. Such a large number of visitors is unusual for an exhibition in China. Visitors from the neighbouring Asian countries and regions like Taiwan, Japan and Korea were strongly represented, but buyers and traders also travelled from Australia, Europe and the USA.
 
The conference programme with 21 international speakers from seven countries reporting on organic farming, the domestic market and worldwide organic markets attracted great interest. The conference was part of a private-public partnership project supported by the German development finance institution DEG. In the two and a half years that the project has been running, it has succeeded in pushing the networking of organic players at national and international level. For example, the Smallholder Market at BioFach China made it possible for small farmers to access the market and created a common platform for organic trade. The results of the PPP project also include many training and information seminars, two BioFach Conferences, consumer information such as an organic shopping guide and the Smallholder Pavilion.

NürnbergMesse China gained 216 exhibitors for BioFach China, whose products are checked by one of all the certification bodies working in China. The Chinese partner, the China Green Food Development Center in Beijing, and Nürnberg Global Fairs succeeded in filling 6,000 square metres of display space in the centrally located Shanghai Everbright Convention & Exhibition Center with a total of 216 exhibitors from 11 countries and regions. The stands of the Chinese companies offered a broad choice of typical Chinese agricultural products from rice, tea, oilseeds, grocery products, oil and honey to milk, wine, fruit and vegetables. Interesting trading concepts were also shown and various consulting and certification service providers presented their services to the visitors. The conclusion of the European exhibitors was overall very good. Fredy Götti, General Manager of Swiss Alpine Cosmetics, rated the Swiss natural cosmetic producer’s exhibiting activities very positively: “BioFach China has been worth it for us – alone for getting to know the Chinese market better.” “Organic products are the market of the future, as could be vividly experienced at BioFach China,” says Jin-Otto Qiang Wei, Asia Pacific Manager at Hela Gewürzwerk, which presented Hela’s new organic project in China at the exhibition.
 
Axel Bartkus, Managing Director of NürnbergMesse China Co., Ltd., sees his main tasks and responsibilities as the provision of information for consumers, development of the domestic market and parallel to this the expansion of BioFach as the key procurement platform of international importance in China. The agenda also includes the organization of a qualified conference programme and promoting quality assurance in organic food production through the strict criteria for admission to the exhibition. Ultimately, all these measures are to lead to a high market penetration. Axel Bartkus sees the expansion of the Chinese organic market as a long-term project, in which it is a question of developing the huge potential of this aspiring market in cooperation with the Chinese partners.

Guo Chunmin, Vice-Director of the state certification body COFCC (China Organic Food Certification Center) said he was very optimistic about development of the market for organic products. From the present 0.2 per cent share of the market for organic, the People’s Republic is striving for eight per cent market volume in eight to ten years. This is no unrealistic target considering the increasingly better image of organic food and an emerging annual growth rate of 30 per cent. The government has apparently recognized the signs of the times and is setting up projects on a grand scale, for example, the Xia Xi Yang organic farm just outside Shanghai. One hundred farmers and their families are involved in the project and produce fruit and vegetables in line with the statutory standards for organic agriculture. The operation includes training, research and agrotourism offers. The aim of the project is to help consumers appreciate the term “organic food”.

All partners in the BioFach China project contribute their know-how and experience. The network includes the Green Food Development Center with the Organic Food Department of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, the official marketing organization for agricultural products, and the Organic Food Certification Center (COFCC), the advisory centre for questions on organic cultivation, certification and marketing. All the certification bodies working in China are also incorporated in the project.

(Picture: Importer Rocks & Wings)
 
The children’s event was an example of BioFach’s future-orientated commitment in addition to the Smallholder Market. On the last day of the exhibition, 200 schoolchildren took part in the final of a school competition on organic food and organic agriculture in China.

Axel Bartkus considers these initiatives in particular are exceptionally important: “We are creating an awareness of healthy food and ecological relationships among tomorrow’s buyers and setting the course for the next generation.”  “The first BioFach China does justice to BioFach’s global concept. BioFach confirms its global validity with the implementation of a sustainable economic and ecological concept. This could be impressively experienced during the three days of the exhibition in Shanghai,” says Gerald A. Herrmann, President of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the patron of BioFach. (Picture: Riegel Weinimport)

The next BioFach China takes place in the Shanghai Everbright Exhibition & Convention Center from 29-31 May 2008.

31.07.2007