Exhibition set to attract 3000 visitors, 60 plus exhibitors

The 2nd edition of agrofood & plastprintpack Ethiopia 2018 is set to be held next week from May 3 to 5. The exhibition is expected to feature 60 plus exhibitors from 18 countries and to meet with 3,000 trade visitors. The exhibition is set to be held at the Millennium Hall and is organized by the German exhibition specialist fair-trade and will host exhibitors from countries such as Austria, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, and South Africa.
“Building on the great results of the first edition in 2017, the quality of exhibitors at the 2018 trade fair is now once again set to improve significantly. The 2018 exhibitor list reads like a Who-is-who of the global agrofood & plastprintpack industry,” outlines Martin März, founder & managing partner of fair-trade.
“After the 2017 event that saw 2,615 trade visitors from 33 countries participating, we now target for more than 3,000 trade visitors to profit from this occasion and discuss their business with world leading suppliers from around the globe,” he said.
It was stated that Ethiopia is East and Central Africa’s largest economy and with GDP-growth rates of between 6 and 10 percent and also one of the fastest growing economies in the world. With imports of 128 million Euros in 2016 Ethiopia is also East and Central Africa’s largest importer of food process and packaging machinery and with 31 million Euros also the 2nd largest of agro-technology.
Furthermore, the country is East and Central Africa’s largest importer of plastics in primary forms, with a phenomenal annual growth rate of 46 percent between 2011 and 2014, reaching 527 million Euros in 2014. And it is the 2nd largest importer of plastics and packaging machinery with annual growth rates of 25 and 59 percent.
According to figures from the World Trade Organization, during the past years Ethiopian food imports have increased by 21 percent annually, from 0.866 billion USD in 2009 to 2.738 billion USD in 2015. Food exports had increased by 13 percent annually over the same period, to now more than USD 2.417 billion.