With a thank you “to the exhibitors, who have the confidence in Confitexpo to continue forward, they are visionary companies from Mexico and abroad; to buyers, who also make an effort to attend to the show and find out new alternatives to make their businesses grow and therefore, all together, achieve changes in our country’s economy”, from Lic. José María Herrera Díaz, general director of Confitexpo, began the inauguration of the thirty-sixth edition of Confitexpo, the International Candy Show.
Lic. Pedro Martínez Ponce, General Director of Internal Trade of the Secretary of Economic Development of the State of Jalisco, expressed his respect and admiration for the great work that Confitexpo has done over 36 years “one of the most important expos; and all that it represents and has represented during all these years. I agree with President Graciela Díaz that we are renewing ourselves, we are innovating, we are adapting. The pandemic, apart from all the damage it left behind, I think it gave us great experiences and a great opportunity to continue rebuilding ourselves”.
Francisco Gómez Ibarra, Treasurer of the Jalisco Food Industry Chamber (CIAJ), indicated that the Jalisco confectionery and chocolate industry is recognized nationally as one of the most important sectors for its contribution to employment, the Product Gross Domestic (GDP) and in investments.
He assured that despite the different challenges that the industry has faced, from the pandemic to labeling changes, “this is a sector that knows how to innovate and stay at the forefront by improving formulas, improving and developing new packaging, generating new sales channels and, above all, attending to the demand of the new consumers”.
Finally, the businessman José Ramón Fernández Martínez Gallo, general director of the Mexican Technical Food Company, spoke about the labeling changes: “we must defend that this sector is not the cause of obesity in our country, we are an indulgent product, we are a good product; we are the ones who discovered chocolate and sent it to the world, we do not even sell 800 grams per capita of chocolate per year, when Italy, Belgium, France sell 10 or 11 kilos per capita per year”.
The 36th edition of Confitexpo was held from August 2 to 5, 2022 at the Expo Guadalajara exhibition center with 156 exhibiting companies from Germany, Spain, the United States, Guatemala and Mexico.
The event was attended by 5,212 visitors from 18 countries, including Mexico.
As a complement to the in-person presentation, interviews were conducted and broadcast via streaming on social networks, achieving a coverage of 25,832 visits.
Twenty companies participated for the first time as exhibitors.
Fifteen exhibitors displayed their products at the Confitexpo SME Pavilion.
A total of 157 new products were exhibited in the New Products Showcase.
During the 4 days of the exhibition, exhibitors and visitors met and were able to establish profitable negotiations for both, which supports the economic development of the sector.