• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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29 countries to exhibit at agrofood & plastprintpack fair in Lagos

agrofood-plastprintpack fair

The latest technologies in food production, processing and packaging are to be displayed next month when the agrofood & plastprintpack fair holds in Lagos, giving local companies an opportunity to acquire the latest equipment to enhance their businesses.

Now in its sixth year, organisers say the fair has been organised in Nigeria as part of a strategy to contribute towards reduction of food imports, and helping local food producers to optimise their operations in ways that will see them deliver optimal value.

“We think Nigeria is capable of feeding itself, so we bring the latest technology from all over the world,” said Paul März, managing director of fair-trade which organises the annual trade show. This year, he says companies from 29 countries will be participating at the tradeshow, coming to deliver equipment for agriculture, food-processing machinery, and packaging machinery, for products that will be made in Nigeria at very high quality and standards.

Asked how issues of financing will be addressed, in view of difficulties in accessing foreign exchange, Marz explained, “many of the exhibiting companies are bringing financing possibilities portfolio, and then we bring local banks, expected to provide funds specifically for this.”

“Financing is a key issue and the exhibitors are addressing this along with partners from the bank,” he said, adding that some of the exhibitors will be selling in Naira.

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Scheduled for 24 to 26 March 2020 at the Landmark Centre, Lagos, the agrofood & plastprintpack Nigeria 2020 will again be supplemented by a 3-day program, covering discussions across several themes.

The tradeshow, organisers say is a platform for valuable business contacts. Exhibitors with already confirmed participation come from countries including; Austria, Benin, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, UAE and Ukraine.

China, Belgium, Germany and Italy will be having official national pavilions, as recorded in some of the previous editions.

While the conference has packaging technology as one of its focus areas, there are concerns on environmental sustainability. Addressing this, Marz told BusinessDay “many exhibitors are now shifting from plastic to paper, and introducing schemes to collect and recycle plastics.”

This he says is one of the key topics to be discussed during the conference emphasising “the key is to attach higher value to plastics, because as soon as plastic has higher value, people will collect and return it (for recycling), as seen to be working in a few other countries.”