oils-and-fats.com - Press releases

Very international: 58 countries represented at premiere
1,100 trade visitors attend premiere
Exhibitors: visitors extremely well qualified

"We made a number of interesting new contacts and cultivated our existing contacts at oils+fats. The visitors who attended the fair were extremely international." That is how Klaus-Peter Eickhoff, Head of Oils and Fats Processing at GEA Westfalia Seperator, summarized first oils+fats, the International Trade Fair for the Production and Processing of Oils and Fats made from Renewable Resources. "For us the fair was a complete success."

A total of 1,100 trade visitors from 58 countries celebrated the premiere of oils+fats 2007, which was held at the M,O,C, Event Centre from November 20 – 22. Besides Germany, the countries that accounted for the largest numbers of visitors were Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and Poland, in that order. However, trade visitors from Australia, Canada and the United States also attended oils+fats to gather information about the market's latest innovations.
When Munich International Trade Fairs established the only international trade fair for the oils and fats industry, the response was extremely positive. Approximately 70 leading manufacturers from 14 countries registered for the first oils+fats. The exhibitors at oils+fats 2007 occupied approximately 2,300 square meters of (gross) exhibition space in Atrium 3 of the M,O,C, Event Centre.

oils+fats is a highly specialized trade show. It differs considerably from the scientifically oriented conferences with accompanying exhibitions that dominate this industry. oils+fats allows exhibitors to present solutions for the production and processing of oils and fats – which includes everything from raw and auxiliary materials to plants and machinery, quality assurance and logistics – to an audience of industry professionals.

"This premiere event exceeded our expectations by far. The fair received top marks from exhibitors and visitors alike. That encourages us to expand oils+fats even further. The industry has found its B2B platform in oils+fats in Munich,“ summarized Norbert Bargmann, Managing Director of Munich International Trade Fairs.

Günter Simon, Managing Director of Harburg-Freudenberger Maschinenbau GmbH and Chairman of the Technical Advisory Board for oils+fats, was also positive as he summed up this year's fair: "The seed has sprouted! Munich International Trade Fairs' goal was to establish a central European exhibition for the oilseed-processing industry, and it turned a big idea into reality with oils+fats 2007. It created an outstanding platform for in-depth discussions and the exchange of ideas and information in our industry and related business fields. For us, this exhibition is a must!"

Visitors also gave the fair very good marks. 89 percent of the visitors said they would recommend oils+fats to others (visitor survey, forschungplus Opinion Research Institute).

93 percent of the exhibitors gave the fair a rating of good to excellent for the visitors' technical expertise: "We were particularly impressed by the outstanding quality of the visitors at the premiere of oils+fats 2007. The large percentage of qualified trade visitors allowed us to hold some very productive discussions. Our exhibition staff also profited from the exchange with visitors and received a number of good ideas," said Herbert Sporrer, Head of Public Relations at the Technology and Development Center, which is part of the Competence Center for Renewable Resources in Straubing.

There was an intense working atmosphere at the M,O,C, on all three days of the fair. "oils+fats immediately established itself as an important industry gathering. It features the right combination of business, presentation platforms and networking. It was the perfect place to demonstrate our company's appeal," confirmed Frederik Hoel, Sales Manager at Desmet Ballestra Group.

oils+fats 2007 focuses on the latest trends and informs experts and decision-makers about the latest technological developments.
That was confirmed by Klaus Kilian, Press Spokesman for Lurgi AG: "We are very satisfied with the positive response to our solutions. Lurgi is a leading international manufacturer of plants and machinery for processing renewable resources, and we feel that oils+fats is very worthwhile. Most visitors were interested in classical oleochemistry and cooking oil refinement as well as our technologies in the bio-fuels sector."

The program of related events was also very well received among visitors. ID&A Ignace Debruyne & Associates Filtration and Membrane World LLC offered short courses – i.e. brief technical lectures about practical solution approaches in English. At the national level, BDOel (Federal Association of Decentralized Oil Mills) put together a series of seminars in German.

The various trade associations in the oils and fats industry that showed oils+fats their unanimous support were also very pleased. According to Dr. Frank Amoneit, Managing Director of Euro Fed Lipid, "Euro Fed Lipid is an initiator and co-organizer of oils+fats, so the fair is extremely important to us. We are convinced that dividing our activities into scientific conferences on the one hand and a business oriented exhibition on the other was both sensible and necessary. We look forward to collaborating with Munich International Trade Fairs in the future."

The M,O,C, Event Centre in northern Munich is the perfect venue for oils+fats. It has a suitable internal and external infrastructure – from optimum technical equipment to professional exhibition support. Among other things, the M,O,C, is home to other specialty exhibitions such as the International Converting Exhibition (ICE), MAINTAIN, the International Trade Fair for Industrial Maintenance, Munich Fabric Start, the leading preview exhibition for clothing fabric in Europe, and High End, the leading European trade fair for consumer electronics.

oils+fats 2008 will be held at the M,O,C, Event Centre from November 18 – 20, 2008.

Additional information is available at www.oils-and-fats.com.

6p/skr

About oils+fats 2007
oils+fats is being held at the M,O,C, Event Centre in Munich from November 20 – 22, 2007. It is the only international trade fair that focuses on the production and processing of oils and fats. It covers everything from raw and auxiliary materials to processing, quality assurance, packaging and logistics, informing visitors about the latest trends and technological developments. That makes oils+fats the most important industry gathering for experts and decision-makers in the oils and fats industry.

About the M,O,C, Event Center
The M,O,C, is Munich International Trade Fairs’ successful event center. It features showrooms, exhibition halls and conference rooms on a total of 30,000 square meters of space. The thing that makes the M,O,C, unique is its open exhibition concept: there are 60 rooms arranged around an atrium bathed in light that can be used for seminars or as additional presentation space. The competent and professional M,O,C, team satisfies any special exhibition requests that exhibitors may have. Approximately 200 events, from conferences and conventions to specialty events for select groups of trade representatives and large-scale exhibitions for the general public are held at the M,O,C, every year.

About Messe München International (MMI)
Messe München International (MMI, Munich Fairs International Group) is one of the world´s leading trade-fair companies. It organises around 40 trade fairs for capital and consumer goods, and key high-tech industries. Each year over 30,000 exhibitors from more than 100 countries, and over two million visitors from around 180 countries take part in the events in Munich. In addition, MMI organises trade fairs in Asia, the Middle East and in South America. With four subsidiaries abroad and 75 foreign representatives, looking after 97 countries, MMI has a truly global network.

Contact M,O,C, Munich:
Bettina Albrecht, Exhibition Manager
Phone: (+49 89) 323 53 215, Fax: (+49 89) 3235-9723982
E-mail: bettina.albrecht@messe-muenchen.de, Internet: www.oils-and-fats.com

Press contact:
Sonja Kreitmeier, Press Officer
Phone: (+49 89) 949 20714, Fax: (+49 89) 949 97 20714
E-mail: sonja.kreitmeier@messe-muenchen.de, Internet: www.oils-and-fats.com