With 69 exhibitors from 15 countries, the ISM Japan was integrated into a trade fair sextet within the well-established Fabex exhibition. Other specialty fairs including the Dessert Sweets & Bakery Festival, Wine & Gourmet, the Noodle Industry Fair and the Premium Food Show occupied a total of three convention halls at the Tokyo Big Sight location.
Over 53,000 attendees from the industry were interested in the products and innovations on display by the 846 exhibitors at Fabex. Most were from Japan, but others attended from neighbouring nations including Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia, China and Malaysia. Following Japan’s remove of Corona regulations and the reopening of its borders, the exhibition stands were visibly busy.
Thought-provoking seminars on sweets and snack trends in Japan and Europe piqued audiences interest and led to many fruitful discussions on how to best profit from these trends. ISM Japan also boosted exhibitor-buyer negotiations via a successful hosted buyer program that included pre-scheduled meetings between exhibitors and buyers from leading retailers, importers and distributors in East Asia.
The strong start to ISM Japan marks an important milestone for the growing ISM network of global sweets and snacks trade fairs, with ISM Japan joining the original ISM in Cologne, Germany and ISM Middle East in Dubai, UAE. “We are very encouraged by what we have seen at ISM Japan this year and are excited to build upon this strong base to make 2024 even better,” said Makoto Takagi, Managing Director of Koelnmesse Japan. The next ISM Japan is scheduled for April 12th – 14th, 2024.