LARGEST EVENTS IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY, AGRICULTURE, HORECA MARKET, PACKAGING AND COLD STORAGE INDUSTRIES: NEW RECORDS AND GROWTH PROSPECTS

AT THE BEGINNING OF NOVEMBER, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE SOUTHERN CAPITAL WAS THE KAZAKHSTAN WEEK OF FOOD INDUSTRY EVENTS, WHICH INCLUDED A SERIES OF HIGHLY PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS EVENTS DEDICATED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY, AGRICULTURE, HORECA MARKET, AS WELL AS MODERN SOLUTIONS IN THE FIELD OF PACKAGING, COLD STORAGE AND ENSURING THE CLEANLINESS OF INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES.

From November 1 to 3, 2023, five exhibition events were held on the territory of the Atakent Kazakhstan Center for Business Cooperation, such as FoodExpo Qazaqstan, AgroWorld Qazaqstan, QazPack, ColdChain Qazaqstan, HoRex Qazaqstan. The most modern product lines, technologies and innovative solutions were presented at their stands by 577 companies from 39 countries: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Vietnam, Germany, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Iran, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Malaysia, the Netherlands, UAE, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, USA, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Finland, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Japan.

The impressive combined exhibition with an area of 12,500 sq.m., has shown significant growth this year compared to 2022. The increase in the occupied area alone was 33%, and the number of participants increased by more than 25%. It is important to note that about 45% (261 companies) of exhibitors are debutants. Manufacturers from Belarus, Hungary, Indonesia, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, the USA, Sri Lanka and South Korea presented the National stands of their countries, which indicates the growing interest of international business in the Kazakhstan market. Attendance indicators, both quantitative and qualitative, also demonstrated active growth. Over the three days of operation, the combined exposition was visited by 8,308 unique visitors, including, in addition to distributors, retailers and manufacturers themselves, representatives of government agencies, industry unions and associations, and experts from foreign and national companies.

The ceremonial opening of exhibitions was attended by Azat Sultanov, the Vice-Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Jan-Kees Goet, the Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Boris Danilenko, the Director of Iteca Kazakhstan Exhibition Company. It is worth noting that the Kingdom of the Netherlands acted as a partner country of the AgroWorld Qazaqstan exhibition, presenting more than 25 companies as part of a large national stand. The opening of the Dutch stand was attended by Jan-Kees Goet, Azat Sultanov, Nico Schermers, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Kazakhstan, as well as Ari Welphausen, the newly appointed Attaché for Agriculture of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Astana. This cooperation is not accidental, the Kingdom of the Netherlands is widely known for its innovations in agriculture, occupying leading positions in the world in the production and export of agricultural products. In his last address to the people of the Republic of Kazakhstan, K.-Zh. Tokayev noted: “We face another task - to achieve a real breakthrough in the agro-industrial complex. The potential of the domestic agricultural industry is colossal, but we still cannot fully realize it. There are huge sales markets around Kazakhstan that need high-quality food products. The strategic goal of our country is to become one of the leading agricultural centers of the Eurasian continent. This is impossible without a stage-by-stage transition from primary production to the production of higher value-added products. The task is to increase the share of processed products in the agricultural sector to 70% within three years”.

It is no coincidence that, within the framework of the exhibition, a memorandum of understanding and the creation of a joint agricultural committee was signed between the Vice-Ministers of Kazakhstan and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the purpose of further cooperation, which will provide an official basis for high-level discussions of issues in the fields of agriculture and agribusiness development. Immediately after the signing of the document, the first meeting of the Kazakhstani-Dutch committee on agro-industrial complex took place. “Cooperation with the Kingdom of the Netherlands in agriculture is one of our priority directions - this area has enormous potential. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan is interested in expanding bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture and increasing trade turnover. Kazakhstan has great opportunities for the production and export of high-quality and environmentally friendly agricultural products”, Azat Sultanov emphasized.

On an official visit, among the honored guests of the familiarization tour were representatives of the Embassies and Consulates of Indonesia, Iran, Hungary, Germany, the USA, Thailand, the Netherlands, Uzbekistan and the Trade Representation of the Russian Federation.

In 2023, the exhibitors of the 25th anniversary FoodExpo Qazaqstan 2023 exhibition included 306 companies from 32 countries. Traditionally, a retail center was organized on the site to carry out direct negotiations between suppliers and representatives of retail chains and distributors, as a result of which, 818 b2b meetings took place. An annual professional competition-tasting of food and beverages took place. This year, a competent jury chaired by the Kazakh Academy of Nutrition identified 104 products in 14 nominations, which now rightfully bear the status of “Best Product of FoodExpo Qazaqstan 2023”. PepsiCo, the official partner of the business program of the exhibition, held a business session: Sustainable development in food production - from raw materials to packaging. In partnership with RainSet Central Asia, Carlsberg Kazakhstan, Technostyle, an expert session was held: Production engineering, management and marketing in food industry enterprises. As part of the panel session «Export and entry of Kazakhstani goods into international markets» QazTrade, KazakhExport, the leading export support structures, as well as international transaction experts represented by KPMG Caspian and KazBeef discussed issues of expanding the geography of sales, support, lending and export insurance.

The AgroWorld Qazaqstan exhibition, which was attended by more than 170 companies from 22 countries, became a platform for demonstrating the latest developments in the fields of agriculture, livestock, horticulture, poultry and crop production. The main sessions of AgriFood Forum Qazaqstan 2023 were: a seminar of the Union of Poultry Farmers of Kazakhstan (Partners: Avimak, SV Agros), a panel discussion of Fruit Business (Session organizers: Dutch Fruit Solutions Kazakhstan and the Association of Gardeners of the Almaty region), a master class from an expert: Needs and priority tasks of the agro-industrial complex of Kazakhstan (Session Partner: Union of Potato and Vegetable Growers of Kazakhstan), business session: Solutions combining nature and technology (Session Partners:- Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Greenhouses Union of Kazakhstan).

The best developments of equipment for the HoReCa segment, household and professional chemicals, as well as cleaning equipment were presented by 53 exhibitors of the HoRex Qazaqstan exhibition from Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, the Netherlands, the UAE, Russia, the USA, and Turkey. A special pride of the exhibition is the largest coffee-themed exposition in this class of events, including companies supplying, roasting, selling coffee bean, ready-made offers for coffee houses and hybrid establishments. Also this year, high performance was achieved in the actively developing cleaning segment. Cleaning and laundry services and equipment, household and professional chemicals were also presented by exhibitors at the HoRex Qazaqstan exhibition in the special CleanExpo sector. Horex Business Forum attracted the attention of a professional audience not only from the hospitality industry, but also from other related industries. The main topic of this year was the topical issue: Problems of personnel formation, their selection and team management, which touches on key issues not only in HoReCa, but also in many other industries today. The Forum included 16 sessions, at which 17 experienced expert practitioners spoke. Over the course of three days, the following issues were considered: «Employer image and the best HR strategies of 2023»; «Team management methods and personal productivity of business leaders»; «The main tools for service and sales». There was also a round table on support and current trends for small and medium-sized businesses. The partners of the Horex Business Forum were Probarista.kz and The Guests Studio, and the project was supported by KAGiR Kazakhstan Association of Hotels and Restaurants.

Equipment and raw materials for packaging production, labeling, coding, label production and printing on packaging, PET containers and much more were presented at their stands by 65 companies from 12 countries, participating in the QazPack 2023 exhibition.

Exhibitors at the ColdChain Qazaqstan 2023 exhibition included 11 producing companies from Germany, Kazakhstan, China, the Netherlands, Russia and Turkey. The content of the exhibition’s business program included a seminar from Guentner Kazakhstan: Warehouse refrigeration supply: ways to optimize energy consumption and increase efficiency. Guentner Kazakhstan development engineers carried out training of specialists, providing experienced developments and new solutions in the industry. “We were pleasantly surprised by the scale, number of participants and quality of organization of the event. We definitely expect to take part next year with a stand, we have begun the process of approving the application, noted speakers from Guentner Kazakhstan, the world leader in the production of heat exchange and refrigeration equipment.

It should be noted that a new feature of the exhibitions was the launch of the innovative mobile application - ITECA.EVENTS. Its main task is to make both participation and visiting the exhibition as productive as possible. Using the application, participants could make appointments with potential customers and collect contacts by scanning QR codes of badges. And visitors always had at their disposal a list of participants with a list of products and services presented at the exhibition, as well as a business program schedule and an interactive exhibition plan.

The exhibition was organized by ITECA Kazakhstan Exhibition Company and its international partner - ICA Events Group of Companies.

Official support for the exhibitions was provided by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Akimat of Almaty city.