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There is a ‘fresh breeze’ blowing thorugh the fruit and vegetable sector at Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre, where Freskon began and will remain open until 29 April.
The 3rd International Trade Show for Fruit & Vegetables is gradually maturing, having established its international appeal as a meeting place for producers, traders and international retailer groups.
Freskon will be inaugurated this afternoon at 17:30 by the Minister of Rural Development and Food, Mr Evangelos Apostolou.
This year, Freskon features 191 direct and indirect exhibitors from Argentina, Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, Italy, Poland, Cyprus, Iraq, Albania, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the USA, Japan and Canada.
The event is deployed over 12,500 sq.m. and a Hosted Buyers Programme is being implemented with the participation of 120 enterprises from 28 countries. In fact, over 2,500 B2B meetings between representatives of Greek enterprises and producers and international hosted buyers have been scheduled.
Apart from the exhibition aspect of Freskon, important side events are also being held, such as the International Kiwi Congress, which began this morning at Pavilion 13.
Projections concerning global production and consumption in the coming years, new technologies in kiwi cultivation, new cultivars and consumption trends, plant protection and nutrition topics, ways to combat diseases, as well as marketing and new markets will be just a few of the topics to be discussed at the International Kiwi Congress, which will feature acclaimed speakers.
Freskon will also host the FreshCon Market, held in cooperation with ‘Froutonea’ magazine, mainly aiming at bringing large supermarket chains into direct contact with professionals of the agricultural sector, creating ideal conditions for direct agreements. Participants in this year’s FreshCon Market include the British group ‘Tesco’ and the German group ‘Metro’, both global players in the retail market, the ‘Fantastico’ and ‘T-Market’ chains from Buglaria, ‘ATB Market’ from Ukraine, ‘Velyka Kyshenya’ and ‘Tavria V’ from Romania, the French group ‘Carrefour’ and ‘Mega Image’, ‘Maxi’, ‘Univerexport’, ‘Mercator’ and ‘Super Vero’ from Serbia, as well as the ‘AB Vasilopoulos’, ‘Masoutis’, ‘Kritikos’, ‘Halkiadakis’, ‘My Market-Metro Cash & Carry’ and ‘Discount Markt’ from Greece.
The working hours of Freskon are from 11:00 to 19:00 today, from 10:00 to 19:00 tomorrow and from 10:00 to 18:00 on Saturday, 29 April. Parking is free for all exhibitors and visitors.