The world’s largest and most loved Beverages Trade fair, the BrauBeviale 2016, was held at The Nuremberg Exhibition Center in Bamberg, Germany, and attracted almost 38000 trade visitors between November 8th and 10th, 2016.With the objective of showcasing and learning about the best in global quality products for the beverages industry, the event saw 1117 exhibitors, both world leaders in their product segments as well as newcomers to the industry.
The products on display were about every aspect of high quality raw materials, high-performance technologies, efficient logistics and creative marketing ideas for the beverages industry.
With the exhibitor stand space of 44,183 sq mts, BrauBeviale 2016 was the largest in its history spanning more than 50 years. The trend theme on the exhibition stands and in the supporting program was Creative Beverage Culture.
Horst Seehofer, Minister President of the Free State of Bavaria, was presented with the Bavarian Beer Award at the official fair opening. Bavaria plays a very significant role in the brewer and beverage culture of the country and the Bavarian Minister President is actively committed to supporting the small and medium-sized brewers in the country. In her opening speech, Ilse Aigner, Bavarian State Minister for Economic Affairs, Media, Energy and Technology, pointed out that “almost every second brewery in Germany is located in Bavaria, and Upper Franconia has the highest concentration of breweries in the world. We are and remain the country of family-run breweries. That guarantees not only quality but also makes a decisive contribution to the regional value-added chain.”
The highlights of the event were the first EXPORT FORUM for German Beer, which was held the day before the fair, and the MicroBrew Symposium. The Forum BrauBeviale that held discussion to resolve issues from the sector, the PET@BrauBeviale with important information on the beverage packaging sector and, finally the ‘Creative beverage culture’ trend theme, that met with great interest among the visitors.
The mix of exhibitors was very interesting, with 584 from Germany and the rest 533 from the rest of the world. From the visitors’ perspective, more than 21,000 were from Germany, while almost 17,000 came from the other parts of the world to attend the show. 52 nations were represented on the exhibitors’ side, in particular companies from Germany, Italy, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria.
Almost 98 % of the visitors were satisfied with the show and more than 91% confirmed they would come again. Said Roland Pokorny, Head of Corporate Communication, KRONES AG, Neutraubling, ”We were very satisfied with both the quantity as well as the quality of the trade visitors at this year’s BrauBeviale. They also made immediate good use of our range on the craft beer theme, special machinery and plant for smaller breweries. As a result, we are taking account of the growing craft beer movement worldwide.”
Added Ingrid Schmittnägel, Managing Director, Institut Romeis, Bad Kissingen, “at BrauBeviale 2016 we once again registered a very high volume of visitors to our stand. I am delighted for the many visitors that BrauBeviale has such a comprehensive, repeatedly growing range to offer. I also thought it was very clever to hold the lectures and presentations in the forum at the heart of the fair business, because we had a large flow of visitors as a result.”
BrauBeviale has grown in the global networking opportunity as a nurturing ground as well as an industry platform for brewers and beverage industry players. Michael Tischler, Project Manager Marketing and PR, Huber Packaging Group GmbH, Öhringen, had not attended the event over the last two years but now wows to never miss another one! “After we had not been represented at BrauBeviale for the last two years, we found that we really missed being present at the event and were back here again this year. We immediately re-encountered precisely our target group and the mood on the stand was very lively. We will definitely not make the mistake again of missing a BrauBeviale!”
Helping brands to set up and grow, the BrauBeviale has been the home ground for many globally successful brands in the industry. Said Michael Wünsch, Team Leader Sales & Marketing, Verpa Folie Weidhausen GmbH, Weidhausen.“Many years ago we came as a small company to BrauBeviale for the first time, we are now the market leader in the thickness-optimized PE film sector and are always here every year. BrauBeviale is particularly good for cultivating our image. The atmosphere is very informal, we know one another and that is why we enjoy coming back.” Added Carola Thäsler, Press Spokeswoman, Weyermann Spezialmalze, Bamberg, one of the world’s largest malt manufacturer and supplier, “For us BrauBeviale is the most important fair of the whole year. All our international sales partners and customers travel to the event – as a result, the fair becomes the largest meeting place and bridges of friendship are formed. We are also repeatedly struck by the high professional quality of the visitors.”
In the run-up to the fair, over 120 experts assessed the 2,103 beers from all continents submitted in 57 categories for Europe’s largest beer competition. The world’s best beers, awarded gold medals, were tested by several thousand trade visitors on the first day of the fair, who then voted for their Consumers’ Favourite 2016.
The gold went to the Belgian-style Witbier from brewery MC77-Birrificio Artigianale (Italy).
The silver medal went to Long Sun Brewing (Taiwan) for their amber coloured wheat beer.
The trade fair visitors’ selection for third place was the dark wheat bock produced by Kronenbrauerei Alfred Schimpf (Germany).
The Trade Fair closed on November 18th, after a three day window of opportunity for global exposure and learning of products and technologies as well as markets in the beverages industry. Speaking on the occasion, Andrea Kalrait, Director Exhibitions said, “This is the most successful trade fair in the history of BrauBeviale. We registered renewed increases not only in terms of space and internationality, but also among the visitors.”
