Medfel forging a great place to do deals

The Perpignan event combines the congenial atmosphere and high quality commercial exchanges.

Medfel, the professional trade fair, business convention and symposium dedicated to the Mediterranean fruit and vegetable industry returns to the beautiful city of Perpignan in the south of France from 13th to 15th May 2014. As always the fair shines the spotlight on a certain product and this year is to be no different. The focus is on melons and water melons and green is its signature colour. It is sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture and its purpose is to aid business relations between the different participants in the fruit and vegetable sector of Mediterranean Europe from production to marketing by way of the fresh produce logistics sector.  Medfel is the only fruit and vegetable trade fair in the Mediterranean area, and now promotes the sector’s products and expertise to 5,000 professionals from all over the world. It plays host to 250 fruit and vegetable professionals from countries in the Mediterranean basin, working in areas ranging from production, wholesale and retail to import-export and shipment.  It is also the perfect place for exhibitors to meet high calibre buyers as international VIP buyers invited to the fair can use their personal access to the event’s website and organise meetings with exhibitors who can then hold pre-scheduled private interviews at their stands. There are 150 VIP international buyers who represent the 35 most important markets in terms of fruit and vegetable imports and these buyers are selected according to their needs and to their motivation to participate  in business meetings organised with the exhibitor. In 2013 nearly 4000 business-to-business meetings were organised and benefitted both exhibitors and visitors due to the time saved and the high calibre contacts made.

A TV podium to broadcast key issues
In addition to this, this year the symposium is to be organised in an innovative format in the form of “Podium TV”, which will be broadcast live at the fair and will include debates on key topics such as production, trade, solutions, transport and logistics with input from a number of well-known personalities as well as the much awaited announcement of the summer fruit harvest forecast. Subjects being discussed include increased food and water security in an area which not only suffers water shortages but is also undergoing significant socio-political upheaval; campaigns for placing fruit and vegetables at the heart of agricultural and public health policy and, of course, talks on melon production by important players in the field.    
Visitors this year include professionals from as far afield as Singapore and Japan as well as the rest of Asia, the Middle East and obviously the Mediterranean. This event now in its 6th year is going from strength to strength as seen from the feedback received from former editions. The success of the prescheduled meetings was highlighted as not only did it make it possible to meet with traders from countries who don’t usually take part in this type of event but also because both visitors and exhibitors were able to make better use of the discussion time than at other fairs. Other areas were also praised. Visitors felt that the presence of transport and logistics companies added to the experience by complementing the main thrust of the event. Above all the organisation was congratulated on the planning of the VIP programme which led to commercial exchanges of extremely high quality.