EmbaxPrint
7.-9.2. 2023

News from the food and drink sector and also the technologies for the processing, treatment and sales, as well as packaging and printing attracted tens of thousands of interested people to the Exhibition Centre. The concept of the morning hours dedicated to professional visitors, while in the afternoon the halls opened for the general public proved to be a good one. In comparison with the last edition there was a slight increase in the number of exhibiting companies and the exhibition area increased as well.

The SALIMA / VINEX, MBK, INTECO and EMBAXPRINT International Fairs were attended by 794 exhibiting companies, among them 42 percent foreign ones; 36 countries and the European Union were represented. A further 435 brands were presented and according to preliminary estimates, this year's attendance reached an equally high number as two years ago.

Exhibitors’ stands occupied four halls with an exhibition area of 28,500 square meters. This year, the end products represented approximately 40% of the scope of the fair, 60% percent were taken up by technology suppliers. There was an exceptionally high foreign participation, mainly from Italy, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. Bulgarian exhibitors from arrived after a long pause while Cambodia was presented for the first time ever. Official exhibitions with government support at SALIMA were opened by the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

For the very first time, buyers from multinational chains attended the fair - Globus, Makro / Metro, REWE / Billa, TESCO-EUROPE and others. The opportunity to use the fair for networking and expansion of the supermarkets’ portfolio was initiated and supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Association of Commerce and Tourism. Exhibitors of foods and drinks highly appreciated and actively used this opportunity for business meetings. They also welcomed the strong interest of end consumers, from whom they received feedback particularly on their traditional products and novelties.

Experts formed the bulk of the trade fair visitors - whether they were representatives of retail and wholesale, catering equipment companies and production facilities, technologists, quality controllers and other experts. Thanks to a date connection of fairs of related fields to a single place, they were able to get an overview of innovations and trends in processing, distribution and sale.

The fairs were also attended by VIP guests and several important international meetings were held. For the sixth time, the Food Forum conference took place at SALIMA, this time focusing on competitiveness of the European food market. Beside the organizing the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Federation of the Food and Drink Industries of the Czech Republic, the meeting was attended by the ministerial partners from Slovakia, Hungary, the European Federation of Food and Drinks, FoodDrink Europe and the Directorate General for Health and Safety of the European Commission. Official visitors also included a business delegation from Zambia and 202 journalists from home and abroad accredited in the press centre during the fairs.

The EMBAXPRINT fair introduced the changing printing market with a predominance of digital technology and exhibitors from the packaging industry. More than half of the participants were companies that participated in the fair for the first time. There was very strong participation from abroad – for first time we welcomed companies from Hungary, France, Great Britain and China. The Packaging Live project once again became an important part of the fair, presenting a model packaging line equipped with the latest technologies in live operation.

The competition for the best exhibits, exhibitors included a record number of 58 products entered by their exhibitors. Their quality was assessed by two evaluation committees, one for food and drinks and the other for engineering and technology. Ten Golden Salima 2016 awards have been granted in total. In the food section, they were won by companies Moravia Lacto, BONECO, Kulhánek & Drápal, AGRO Jesenice u Prahy, Ing. Peter Kudláč - Apimed, Janíček & Čupa, výroba speciálních uzenin, František Bačík – Čokoládovna Troubelice. In the engineering and technology section, prizes were received by JAROSPOL Technology and pap4ever digital. There was a premiere of the first 7 certificates of Czech guild standards of the Federation of the Food and Drink Industries of the Czech Republic being awarded.

Another very successful premiere, the Microbrewery Festival, was attended by 37 Czech and Moravian breweries. The show included the announcement of the competition "33 Czech and Moravian Beer Crowns for the Best Craft Breweries." Visitors had the opportunity to taste special beers, including those brewed exclusively for the Salima fair. On the occasion of the food fairs, the results of the traditional PIVEX Gold Cup - Beer of 2016 and Golden Keg of PIVEX 2016 competitions were announced.

The professional and supporting programme focused on current issues such as electronic records of sales, supervision of food quality and safety, wholesomeness of food processing of animal origin, correct labelling of food or the subsidy policy. The key professional event of EMBAXPRINT, the SAVE FOOD conference, was organized by the partner of the trade fair, SYBA Packaging Institute.

The general public was invited to a daily cycle of lectures by experts from the Faculty of Technology of Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín, which was focused on gluten-free bread baking technology and the production of processed cheese and ham. There was a great response from among the visitors to the show of the confectionery world champion Mieczyslaw Chojnowski. A children’s cooking class project Playful Cooking was also presented while students of South Moravian gastronomic schools presented their skills throughout the exhibition. Special trade fair sections paid special attention to the preparation of quality tea and coffee, there were of course also traditional wine tastings and culinary shows at the exhibitors' stands.

The next edition of the SALIMA / VINEX, MBK, INTECO and EMBAX PRINT International Fairs will be held in 2018.

QUOTES ABOUT SALIMA/vinex, MBK, INTECO and EMBAXPRINT 2016

Marian Jurečka, Minister of Agriculture, CR
Salima is celebrating its jubilee twentieth edition and I am glad that the trade fair managed to bounce back up. I consider as positive the fact that some supermarket chains have sent their representatives. For me personally, this trade fair presents a plethora of quality, not only among food products but also food production technology, and all this is a prerequisite for us to further reduce the negative balance of agricultural trade.

Miroslav Toman, president, Federation of the Food and Drink Industries of the Czech Republic
I would like to thank the Ministry of Agriculture for the support of this traditional trade fair. I am very glad that we can meet here at a time that is very complicated - it is the beginning of the new programming period but also a time of a milk crisis and Russian sanctions. We are introducing new Czech guild standards at our stand. It is a response to consumer calls for high quality food, and I think that these standards will find use not only in relation to the consumer, but also when negotiating prices with supermarket chains, because we do not want to push the price down in the production of normal food and we want to use quality ingredients.

Martin Klanica, Director, State Agricultural and Food Inspection
I hope that companies will continue to participate in the Golden Salima competition in large numbers. It is an excellent opportunity for them to present and demonstrate the quality of their products in order for them to find business partners and ultimately also end consumers.

Eva Moravcová, Executive Director, Espresso s. r. o.
We have been exhibiting regularly at Salima, we have never missed one. Our participation brings us new acquisitions in the market and we can introduce our new projects to customers from the Czech Republic. We show them that we are still here and come up with new innovative ideas that will help them in their business in the changing market conditions.

Ján Hudeček, Business Director, Čajová květina, s. r. o.
We supply Japanese Matcha green tea to the Czech market and make it an everyday and affordable affair. We address not only tea lovers, but also consumers interested in a healthy lifestyle, and anyone looking for an alternative for coffee. We're focusing on the retail network as well as gastronomy, and that is why we are present at Salima already for the second time.

Georgi Ivanchev, company owner, Krez obchod a služby
I am here for the third time with our selection of wines; our company is located in Brno and the scope of people interested in quality Bulgarian wines is expanding. Bulgaria as a producer of wine will be spoken of even more in the future; our wines have already won several medals in the Czech Republic. And this year we are also introducing new winemaking technology.

František Janíček, co-owner, Janíček & Čupa, výroba speciálních uzenin Židlochovice
We have been regularly participating in the Brno fairs and we mainly meet with end clients here. We also have traders coming to us, but their required amount is a problem, because we are a small family company. Awards are good marketing for us and the Golden Salima for our roast meat has made me happy because I did not count on this award too much. I had rather hopes about our sirloin prosciutto, which is unique on the market, but it only received a nomination.

Martin Jaroš, executive director, JAROSPOL Technology s. r. o.
It is our second time exhibiting at MBK and we received the Golden Salima award which is great marketing for us and a strong sales argument. The award-winning novelty is of great interest here at the fair. The second day of the fair was the best for us; we literally had a rush of customers at our stand. Even today we had a couple of customers with a serious interest in our technology; the fair has certainly been successful for us. Yesterday we even sold one exhibited device that the customer took away immediately.

Igor Ferenc, business manager, Apimed, Slovakia
The Czech market is very important to us; that is why regularly exhibited in Brno, where we have won our third Golden Salima award this year. Our participation gives us direct contact with customers, we find out their opinions, promote our company and products. The market has been divided and thus that we do not get too many new business contacts, but I can see some small entrepreneurs appearing and they are an interesting target group for us.

Zbyněk Semerád, Director, State Veterinary Administration of the Czech Republic (ÚVS SVS ČR)
We organize the 13th conference on healthy production and food processing of animal origin. I see the benefit already in the fact how many veterinarians who are involved in ensuring animal health and food safety have come here. We exchange information also with colleagues from Slovakia because they have a similar market and similar behaviour. It is inspiring and important for us to know where the problems are, to be able to detect and adjust supervision to make it effective.

Miroslav Zeman, business director, ROLOFOL, a.s.
Today (18 February 2016) an agreement was signed at our stand between our company and the Central European Institute of Technology CEITEC at BUT. We operate in a very competitive environment. To be successful in foreign markets, we need to offer to our customers top quality and something more. And this is helped not only by our own diligence, but also the fact we have the possibility to use scientific knowledge.

Helena Gmuzdková, head of marketing, Moravia Lacto a.s.
Jihlava dairy presents itself at SALIMA like in the previous year in a joint exhibition of Czech companies of the INTERLACTO Group, which also includes Mlékárna Olešnice RMD and BOHEMILK, a.s. from Opočno. Each of the three dairies have their traditional range, new features also include the Herold cheese which has won the Golden Salima for Moravia Lacto a.s. We have a lot of visitors at our stand, we almost cannot keep up in running the tastings and it is basically always crowded here. We appreciate the fact that our company and customers seek us out. We are very satisfied with the trade fair so far.

Jitka Bačíková, owner’s sister, František Bačík - Čokoládovna Troubelice
The Golden Salima for our hot chocolate was a pleasant surprise and it is a prestigious award for us. Salima is such a matter of the heart, even if it was only our second year. The first one was great, there were nice people here, perfect organization and the same can be said of this year. So we are very happy that we are here. The fair is on a good level and it is one of the most beautiful ones in the Czech Republic with a focus on food.

Martin Struhár, company executive, CoolArt Technology
We decided about our participation at the last moment and we feel that it was a good decision. The organization of the fair is excellent, same as the number of potential clients; we have even managed to conclude several contracts. Thus participating in the 30th edition of Salima has been very successful for us.

Martin Jamrich, company director, pap4ever digital, s.r.o.
We are a new company and thus we came to Brno to primarily to introduce ourselves, our partners and products that we bring to the market. Even many gentlemen of the competition came here to look at everything we do. For the first time in the Czech Republic we are for example introducing a thermal printer GT ONE, which includes twelve patents and has received the Golden Salima.

Michaela Zachová, EQUICom communications agency, partner of PACKAGING LIVE 2016
We’ve assessed this year's fair very positively; especially the second day was strong. There was great interest in our packaging line; negotiations on cooperation took place at the stands of our exhibitors, exhibitors of the packaging line agreed among themselves on some cooperation in the packaging of baked goods. We also had foreign visitors, for example from Kenya, Russia, Italy and Slovakia.