Companies from Ciudad Real enjoy the opportunity to find out about all the details involving the upcoming edition of España Original 2010 during a Technical Session

Nemesio de Lara, President of the Trade Fair and of the Provincial Government, presented the Technical Work Session at the Ciudad Real Chamber of Trade and Commerce

Ciudad Real, 3-2-2010.- Today an important group of Ciudad Real companies pertaining to the agri-food sector have enjoyed the opportunity to find out about all the details involving España Original 2010 and the system that the organization has created in order to encourage encounters between the offer and the demand, this during the Technical Session “Opportunities for Agri-Food Exporting in Europe. Technical Session on the España Original Trade Fair as a Practical Case”, which took place in the Ciudad Real Chamber of Trade and Commerce.

Nemesio de Lara, President of the Provincial Government and of the Trade Fair, who was in charge of welcoming all the entrepreneurs along with the President of the Chamber of Trade and Commerce, Juan Antonio León Triviño, invited the province’s entrepreneurs and producers to take advantage “of all the business opportunities that a trade fair such as España Original offers. A trade fair that is highly recognized abroad, as is the case with Fenavin, figures of which – almost 67,000 commercial contacts and 420 importers from 30 countries in the 2008 edition - make it essential that a Ciudad Real company set-up a stand at the trade fair between the 11th and 13th of May”.

Manuel Juliá, Director of España Original and Fenavin, has informed the participating companies on the keys of the upcoming agri-food trade fair, which represents “a unique and trustworthy opportunity to come into contact with the markets of 47 countries and concentrate the work of an entire year into three days”.

The main technical representative of the Trade Fair stressed the organization’s disposition to support the Ciudad Real companies, encouraging them to not miss the chance “to set-up a 12 meter square stand for only 600 Euros at a time such as this”. He also underlined “the importance of preparing the trade fair sufficiently in advance, for which a series of different tools exist that are both user-friendly and agile to facilitate all the information and help so that the work of both purchasers and exhibitors will be highly productive”.

These basic tools are:

1. The “Contact With…” Program, which is a service offered by the organization to encourage business meetings between exhibitors and purchasers, by way of which the exhibitors, even one month before the trade fair, can select a limited number of purchasers with whom they will be able to contact during the trade fair itself. The purchasers will also be able to contact with as many exhibitors as they wish, thus putting their agendas together to set-up a date and place to hold the meeting.

2. The Business Center is one of the Trade Fair’s ‘hearts’; representing a place where purchasers will be able to find all the information and help they need during their visit to the same. The goal behind this center is to promote national and international business contacts, providing all the necessary services to facilitate their work.

3. The Sabor Original Gallery is the Trade Fair’s great showcase, in which most of the brands that the exhibitors have on display at their stands can be found.

The main goal behind this gallery is to provide professional visitors with a comfortable and peaceful space where they will be able to first try all those products they are interested in. There will be an index card, in Spanish and English, alongside each of the product’s on display with the most relevant information about each product.

4. The Business Searcher represents a tool that can be accessed at www.espanaoriginal.com, and from the computers that will be distributed throughout the trade fair’s different pavilions, thus allowing all those interested in buying products to precisely choose their objectives. Hence purchasers that have just arrived at the trade fair can optimize their time to the full with the business searcher, previously selecting their objectives by way of comprehensive information about each one of the exhibitors at the trade fair and by trying all those products that interest them before going to the corresponding stands.

The Nordic Countries and The Benelux, markets that are open to Ciudad Real products

These sessions have been very useful for the participating companies, as they have been able to really find out about the characteristics of the consumers in countries such as Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Denmark, the same thanks to Katarina Holmér, España Original Delegate in that area, and Enrique Quirós, who has covered the countries of Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg.

Holmér has explained that the Nordic importer highly values communication in English; the existence of a web; respect for exclusivity contracts and delivery periods, as well as adaptation of the product to the preferences of their market and a comprehensive analysis of the starting prices. Likewise, consumers in these countries are particularly fond of ecological products and healthy food and “they take the price very much into account, as is the case with a modern, attractive package and the product’s added value.

On his part Quirós talked about the possibilities that a product such as cheese has in the Benelux, where it competes with the dairy products of the area and with French dairy products, this in a series of countries in which consumption of dairy products does nothing but grow and where there is a great demand for trendy packaging and healthy, quality products that are respectful with the environment.

These are the same reasons why a product such as olive oil, even if its consumption is still rather low, has many possibilities on this market, in particular in the gourmet sector and supermarket and hypermarket chains, although in small, elegantly designed packages. The Trade Fair’s Delegate in the Benelux also highlighted that this market is wide open to bakery and fast food products.

To finish off both Holmér and Quirós recommended that great care be put into the brand’s communication material, which should be in English, apart from staff attending the stands with a good command of English as well as negotiation authority.

Footnote: appearing from the left to the right Manuel Juliá, Director of España Original and Fenavin; Günther Lorenz, Director of the Ciudad Real Chamber of Trade and Commerce, Nemesio de Lara, President of the Provincial Government, Juan Antonio León Triviño, President of the Ciudad Real Chamber of Trade and Commerce and Angel Amador, Institutional Coordinator of the Trade fair.