BIOEXPO Warsaw 2019

In mid-October, the premiere edition of the fair for the bio industry in Poland took place. It can be said with full conviction that the first International Trade Fair of Food and Ecological Products BIOEXPO Warsaw was a great success.

Nearly 220 exhibitors from Poland, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh gathered in the largest Trade Fair and Congress Center in Poland, PTAK WARSAW EXPO, offering a wide range of interesting products and solutions that were presented in six thematic zones: food & drink, beauty & cleaning, biolife, ekotech, bioagro and supporting bodies. Producers and distributors presented only certified products and those intended for organic production.

The fair was visited by nearly 9,000 people, including mainly representatives from the industry and the trade sector – decision-makers from purchasing departments from the FMCG, HoReCa and pharmacies sectors, owners of purchasing platforms, wholesalers and distributors. A large group of visitors were buyers from abroad participating in the Hosted Buyers program, including from Germany, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. The B2B talk zone organized by the main partner of the fair, the LIDL chain, which was looking for suppliers of bio products for its stores, not only those located in Poland, but also abroad, was very popular. These activities may soon translate into a real extension of the range of products ecological products in this discount chain. The group of visitors also included owners of specialist stores from all over the country, representatives of the mass catering industry, as well as consumers who are looking for new products. A large part of the exhibition was addressed to organic farmers, who were also present in the halls of the PTAK fair center.

The fair was accompanied by the BIOEXPO Congress, during which the topics of agriculture and organic food, organic and natural cosmetics and cleaning products were comprehensively discussed. Experts and practitioners also discussed health, the threat that consumer civilization brings to our planet and many other topics. The speakers included representatives of, among others: IFOM, SGGW, IMAS International, the Ministry of the Environment, the University of Warsaw, and representatives of business, media and non-governmental organizations.

The NEW ZONE was also very popular, presenting 80 innovative products that entered the market last year. The visitors considered the most interesting products: in the food & drink category – a line of organic broths – get inspired by the taste !, presented by LOGICO.PL Damian Darowski; in the beauty & cleaning category – ARKADI – laundry detergents, presented by iSTART Sp. z o.o. from Greece, in the biolife category – PATCH STRIPS NAURAL BAMBOO FIBERS SLICES, presented by APOLLODOM Sp. z o.o., in the bioagro category – Trawnik BIOgardena Professional by NaturalCrop Poland Sp. z o.o. and in the eco-engineering category – Flexible compostable packaging, with water-based flexo printing, certified in accordance with the EN13432 standard by SILBO Sp. z o.o.

The organizers (Agata Szczepaniak – Project Director and Katarzyna Drobińska – Fair Director) proved that certified organic food, natural cosmetics and zero waste products are topics that deserve an independent fair event. It does not need to be “attached” to other events or supplemented with various “accessories”.

The main partner of this year’s edition of the fair was the LIDL network, and the ambassadors were Katarzyna Bosacka, Katarzyna Jankowska and Grzegorz Łapanowski. The fair was supported by the international organization IFOAM EU, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland, the Polish Chamber of Organic Food, and the editorial offices of the trade magazines Biokurier.pl and Ekodostatorów.