Nigeria has recorded €346m in 2021, as an investor in food & packaging technology in Africa which made it largest ahead of Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, Morocco and all other African countries
Paul Maerz, Managing Director of the organisers fairtrade Messe during his welcoming address on the occasion of the opening event of agrofood & plastprintpack Nigeria 2023
The Nigerian agrofood & plastprintpack industry meets again for the highlight activities that bring together exhibitors and visitors to agrofood & plastprintpack Nigeria 2023.
The Nigeria’s 8th International Trade Exhibition is 3-day ongoing activities on Agrofood, Plastics, Printing and Packaging at Landmark event centre, Lagos.
Maerz stated that Global technology leaders from 17 countries will showcase adapted technologies and solutions for the Nigerian and West African market in the fields of agriculture, food + beverage processing, ingredients, plastics, printing and packaging. The exhibitors come from Austria, Bulgaria, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Germany, France, India, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Nigeria, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Türkiye, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the USA, he listed.
“Germany is once again participating with an official German Pavilion, presented by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs in cooperation with the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA) and supported by VDMA Food Processing & Packaging Machinery.
“The Netherlands is participating with on official Netherlands pavilion presented by the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and organised by NABC together with East-West Trade Consulting.
“The exhibition is again supplemented by a 3-day program full of presentations and panel discussions. Here, Nigerian and European experts discuss current topics of concern to professionals.
The organisers fairtrade Messe managing director revealed that in 2023 for the first time the MFI Awards will be hosted alongside agrofood & plastprintpack and WACCSE 2023. According to him, the MFI Awards Ceremony is co-sponsored by the MFI Micronutrient Fortification Index and powered by TechnoServe via a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sponsored initiative, the Technical Assistance Accelerator Program.
To highlight the importance of the Nigerian market, mentioned some figures:
- With €346m in 2021, Nigeria is the largest investor in food & packaging technology in Africa, ahead of Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, Morocco and all other African countries.
- With €165m in 2021, Nigeria is the second largest importer of plastics technology in Sub-Sahara Africa, just behind Egpyt (€202m) and well ahead of South Africa. Nigeria’s plastics technology imports increased by an average of 25% per year between 2016 and 2020.
- At €50m in 2020, Nigeria ranks second in sub-Saharan Africa for imports of printing and paper technology, behind Egypt, but well ahead of other African countries.
- With €151 million in 2021, Nigeria is among the three largest investors in packaging technology in Africa, in line with South Africa and behind Egypt, ahead of Algeria, Morocco, Tanzania, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya.
- The enormous population growth from 206 million in 2022 to 411 million in 2050 demands high sustainable investments in Nigeria’s agrofood & plastprintpack industry.
The organisers fairtrade Messe further noted that the figures underline the importance of the Nigeria agrofood & plastprintpack market.
He acknowledged the present of Bureau Veritas, the world leader in laboratory testing, inspection and certification services. Based in Africa since 1878, they have 3,500 employees located in 45 countries and 30 laboratories, he added.
Maerz continue, Old Mutual is this year’s conference sponsor. Old Mutual Limited is a premium African financial services group that offers a broad spectrum of financial solutions to retail and corporate customers across key markets in 14 countries, he stressed.
“After the great cooperation for the 2021 and 2022 event, fairtrade & OTACCWA, the Organization for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa, also organise the 5th West African Cold Chain Summit & Exhibition WACCSE by OTACCWA alongside agrofood & plastprintpack Nigeria 2023.
“WACCSE is the only cold chain event in West Africa, the most valuable in-depth and comprehensive B2B networking cold chain event serving the pharmaceutical, perishable farm produce, storage, and distribution industries.
The organizer reaffirmed to continue cooperation with SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria. Since long, fairtrade cooperates with SOS Children’s Villages in different countries around the world, since 2018 also in Nigeria, he added.
“Fairtrade supports SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria by donating all proceeds from visitor entrance fees and by promoting them to partners as well as throughout the campaign towards the show. We encourage exhibitors and visitors alike to get in touch with SOS during the show and to contribute to their good cause, Maerz concluded.
Finally, he acknowledged strong institutional support of our Nigerians and international partners.
