INTERPOMA 2004 Results Improve, Public Even More International

From November 10 to 12, the capital of the province of South Tyrol, Bolzano, and its exhibition center were once again the centre of the international world of apples on the occasion of the fourth edition of Interpoma, the international tradeshow on the cultivation, storage, and marketing of apples. The tradeshow, which drew to close on Friday, November 12 after a duration of three days, can claim to be a major draw and an international forum for the sector: a total of 8,119 professional visitors were drawn to Bolzano, 5.6 percent more than 2002 which, with 7,688 visitors, was itself a new high. This year, 14 percent of the visitors came from abroad while, of the 268 exhibitors, 30 percent were from abroad. "Interpoma has become an international meeting point for the world of apples. It has also been successful in bringing the continents closer together," confirms Matthias Josef Gamper, president of the Umbrella Organization of the South Tyrolean Fruit Industry which, with an average harvest of 850,000 metric tons, represents a good ten percent of the entire production of the EU. Gamper's statements were confirmed by the presence in Bolzano, on the occasion of the tradeshow, of the International Pink Lady Association, the Association of Directors of European Marketers, a group of representatives of the most important cultivation regions in northern Europe, a group of Eastern European purchasers, and numerous delegations from China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the USA, Brazil, Chile, and Japan. In addition to the numerous innovations on the market, which was the impetus for most of the visitors to come (an average of 3.89 on a scale of 1 to 5 with regard to the main reasons for attending the tradeshow), the next major reason was represented primarily by the international conference "The Apple in the World", a world-renowned appointment whose magnetic effect could not be escaped by experts from Australia, South America, South Africa, and the Far East. A total of 790 participants took part in the three-day conference, and it was clearly the second day of the conference dedicated to the topic "1-MCP: Revolution in CA Storage!?" which, with 330 people, generated the greatest interest, followed by the first day with the main topic "The Apple in the Globalized World" which attracted 290 registrations. According to Kurt Werth, the principal organiser of the international conference, and a world-renowned expert on apple varieties, "Just like the Interpoma tradeshow itself, the conference 'The Apple in the World' has become a brand name in the international world of apples. This has also now been impressively underscored by the participants who came from all over the world. We addressed topics that completely did justice to the globalization of the worldwide apple sector that is fully in the process of being implemented." With grades of 'very good' (24.9 percent), 'good' (16.2 percent), or 'satisfactory' (13.4 percent), over 99 percent of the 400 visitors who were polled by the University of Bolzano evaluated the apple tradeshow as being above average. Only 0.5 percent were unable to view the tradeshow as being positive. A total of 95.6 percent declared their desire to return to the next edition of Interpoma in the autumn of 2006. A total of 73.0 percent of the exhibitors also declared that they absolutely would want to be present next time and 24.7 percent will want to consider it, while only 2.2 percent excluded this a priori. With regard to the number of professional visitors, 12.4 percent of the exhibitors were 'very satisfied' and 71.9 percent were 'satisfied', while 4.5 percent were 'completely dissatisfied' and the remaining 11.2 percent were 'not especially satisfied'. On the whole, 91.2 percent of the exhibitors expect 'good' (29.7 percent) or 'satisfactory' (61.5 percent) post-tradeshow business. The summaries of the presentations at the conference 'The Apple in the World' have been made accessible to all those who are interested on the website of the Bolzano Exhibition Center at www.Interpoma.it . For visitors to Interpoma 2004 or for all those interested who were unable to attend, the Bolzano Exhibition Center has prepared an interesting innovation: all of the stands at 'Interpoma 2004' were recorded with a 360 degree camera. They may be viewed at www.Interpoma.it/Realtour beginning on November 20.