ProSweets Cologne continues to be an important and effective marketing platform for the supplier industry of the confectionery and snack sector. This was also confirmed by this year’s “Special Edition” with 119 exhibitors, which recorded a strong international attendance.

ProSweets Cologne, the leading international supplier fair for confectionery and snacks, was uniquely postponed from January to April alongside ISM 2023 and also showed its competence in the special format “Special Edition”. The Cologne trade fair duo, which covered the entire value chain for confectionery and snacks, recorded more than 25,000 visitors from 135 countries. 72 % of them came from abroad. From the exhibitors’ point of view, above all, the high quality of the visitors that largely comprised of executives and production managers was decisive for the positive assessment of the trade show.

After three intense days, the organizer’s conclusion was positive: “The producers of sweets and snacks and the supplier industry only form such a cohesive unit across the entire value chain here in Cologne,” emphasized Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse GmbH. “A very high number of interested parties are already on location because of the parallelism with ISM alone. Then, there are those manufacturers, who also don’t want to miss out on the special format of ProSweets Cologne because it offers an overall view of the solutions for the most important demands of the industry as well as the key trends and of course direct contact to the solution providers. The fact that everyone is looking forward to a regular ProSweets Cologne in its own hall in January 2024 was also clearly tangible at the trade fair.”

The trade show covered all the main areas of supply, from raw materials/ingredients/semi-finished products, production systems and automation as well as packaging materials and equipment to operating and auxiliary equipment as well as food safety. In addition to leading companies, numerous small and medium-sized specialist suppliers important to the confectionery and snack industries took part. The exhibition space available this year in the passage between halls 4 and 5 and the Central Boulevard of the South Exhibition Centre was completely occupied. With special measures like a well-attended “Matchmaking Breakfast” and an attractive trade fair lounge, the event offered the opportunity for in-depth networking.

In addition to new technologies, the dominating topics at the booths were energy and resource efficiency as well as sustainability within the complex process chain. A particular focus lay on the segment comprising of raw materials, ingredients and semi-finished products, in which significantly more exhibitors were represented this year. Here, in addition to the topic of sustainability and products that convince with their taste and technology, the implementation of special raw materials to achieve exceptional sensory impressions was also discussed. The lecture programme of the “Expert Stage” also covered this topic, as well as the “Guided Tours” that were carried out by the experts of DLG (German Agricultural Society).

The next ProSweets Cologne will take place from 28 to 31 January 2024. Then, it will again use its own hall with its infrastructure to offer the possibility of showing larger lines. As usual, ProSweets Cologne will be staged parallel to ISM. The contents of the event programme will continue to be intermeshed in order to further extend the synergies between the two trade shows.