Expo ANTAD 2023 Celebrates 40 Years of Promoting Mexican food and Business to the World

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Expo ANTAD 2023 opens today, March 7, amid great optimism from its organizers and the announcement of new alliances to continue to grow commercially into new markets in Latin America and Europe.

At a press conference before the start of the event at Expo Guadalajara, Mexico, Vicente Yáñez, president of the National Association of Supermarkets and Department Stores (ANTAD), highlighted that the trade show is celebrating its 40th anniversary in the age of mobility.

“More than 2,500 buyers from associated chains and guests will be present on the exhibition floor, and more than US$800 million will be generated in business during the three-day event,” said Yáñez.

The ANTAD president expressed to Abasto Media his optimism that this year’s trade show will exceed the sales figures achieved in 2019. However, he acknowledged that it is necessary to continue paying attention to inflation globally, affecting all markets and consumers.

From left to right: Federico Díaz, Christian Guarín, Denis Teker, Vicente Yáñez, Bastian Mingers, Gustavo Stauffer, Mónica Leñero, and Ignacio Tatto.

Expo ANTAD 2023, running March 7-9 in Guadalajara, Mexico, has nearly 600,000 square feet of floor space at the Expo Guadalajara Convention Center. More than 1,200 Mexican and international exhibiting companies will present their products and services to more than 47,000 attendees browsing the exhibition hall during the three-day event.

Yáñez says they will have the presence of more than 35 countries from Europe, Latin America, North America, and Asia, presenting their products and companies from 25 Mexican states.

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“The most important business forum in Latin America has brought together national and international buyers seeking to transcend borders for 40 consecutive years. At Expo ANTAD 2023, they will identify new alternatives and trends that will allow them to expand their business mission,” Yáñez stated.

Also present at the press conference were Bastian Mingers, vice president of Koelnmesse, and Denis Steker, international senior vice president, who announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to intensify their collaboration with Expo ANTAD in 2024.

Koelnmesse is an international leader in organizing trade fairs in the food and beverage segment based in Germany. They organize events such as Anuga, a global consolidated and leading trade fair based in Cologne/Germany. In addition to events at its Cologne location, Koelnmesse organizes numerous food and beverage trade fairs with different sector-specific focus areas and content in other key markets worldwide, including Brazil, China, India, Japan, Colombia, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates.

Steker highlighted the importance of Expo ANTAD for food business development in the region.

“We fully understand Mexico’s special position of being next to the United States and therefore being a bridge between North and Central America, or even South America. It has enormous potential as an interesting business destination for partners worldwide,” said Steker, who added, “our engagement at Expo ANTAD is a win-win situation in a double sense, ANTAD, and Koelnmesse. Still, it is also a win-win situation for the fair’s exhibitors, who will gain new contacts and opportunities now and in the future.”

In response to a question from Abasto about the development of ANTAD’s commercial relations with U.S. businesses, the organization’s president said that “Expo ANTAD has helped producers to go abroad. All the nostalgia products sold in the U.S. market are bought by Mexicans and Latinos who live there, so big supermarket chains like Northgate Gonzalez Market come to Expo ANTAD to look for those Mexican products.”