This year’s edition of Kenya’s flower and fresh produce exhibition IFTEX is going to extend its products profile by adding fresh produce through the launch of a new trade fair that will be held simultaneously with IFTEX. About 50 companies have signed up until now for this new exhibition.
Fresh Produce Africa or FPA will be a platform for the fresh vegetable and fruit sector of Kenya and other African countries. According to the organizer HPP Exhibitions It is totally new for two reasons: never before a trade fair with this profile has been organized in Africa and never before this concept has been implemented in Africa, a concept where international buyers are being invited to the continent where the product is being grown, as it is custom that producers go to the countries where the product is being sold.
The extension is a logical result of the developments in the international distribution channels of flowers. More and more flowers are being also sold through big retail chain stores, supermarkets and other mass market channels where also fresh produce is being sold. It is therefore beneficial for exhibitors and visitors of IFTEX to enlarge and diversify the exhibiting product profile in order to attract more international buyers.