BRAU Beviale 2007: Dependable And Stable

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A rail strike and snow storms marked the start of BRAU Beviale 2007 in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg (14-16 November), but this did not deter the 34, 456 trade visitors at this year's most important capital goods exhibition for the beverage industry. The share of international visitors rose in both percentage and absolute terms. 28% came mainly from Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, France, Great Britain, Italy and other growth markets in Central Eastern and Eastern Europe to source information about beverage raw materials, technologies, logistics and marketing from the 1,416 exhibitors (2006: 1, 437*) – almost 40% of them international.

Walter Hufnagel, Member of the Management Board of NürnbergMesse, has every reason to be pleased: "BRAU Beviale 2007 proved its real strength and stability: The autumn get-together for the European beverage industry impressively withstood the bad combination of rail strike and the onset of winter. This definite commitment of the international experts is a big compliment for our exhibitors!"

According to the result of a survey by an independent institute, 97% of the visitors from breweries and malting houses (48%), specialists from producers and fillers of non-alcoholic drinks (+2 to 15 %), experts from dairies and winegrowers, suppliers to the brewing and beverage industry and visitors from the hotel and catering trade were thoroughly satisfied with the products on display.

A good 49% of the German visitors at the exhibition came direct from the beer country Bavaria. They were followed by far fewer experts from Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, the Rhineland Palatinate, Saxony, Lower Saxony and Thuringia. German and international visitors stood out for their high level of competence, as 88 % are decisively involved in investment decisions in their company.

In close solidarity with their BRAU Beviale exhibition, almost 60% of them planned their trip to Nürnberg two months before the exhibition and even much earlier. Over half of them used the days at the exhibition to source information about new products and as many as 70% also want to use these in their companies. Especially important aspects for the visitors are cultivating existing business contacts and making new ones, market orientation, training, information exchange and preparing for investment decisions.

The "BRAU Beviale community" in Nürnberg once again cultivated a quality that tends to be rare nowadays: In the middle of the hustle and bustle of business, they took time for each other, for a good discussion with partners, colleagues, friends or competitors to keep contacts alive and to exchange views.

Besides the comprehensive range of products from the exhibitors, BRAU Beviale 2007 offered a wealth of extra know-how in seminars, at the Exhibitors Forum or on the hot topic of energy. The ENERGY theme pavilion, organized by NürnbergMesse in its established cooperation with the Brewery Research and Training Institute (VLB) of Berlin, was visited by over 15,000 interested experts to update on issues ranging from energy production, purchasing, renewable energy, cost-cutting potentials and recovery to emission trading.

Altogether 45 nations were represented on the exhibitors' side this time, headed by 860 German companies, followed by companies from Italy, Great Britain, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the Czech Republic. 97% of the exhibitors are satisfied with the overall success of their exhibiting activities and 94% made new business connections, so that 83 % expect lively follow-up business from these contacts. The mood was therefore also fantastic until after midnight at the completely sold out BRAU Beviale Evening (now always on Thursday!).

20 innovative young companies were also successful on their first appearance in two attractive pavilions sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). Opticlar of Monschau (D) stands for innovative glass washing systems for bars. Filip Vidovic, general representative : "At BRAU Beviale we convinced landlords, caterers, beverage services and brewers with their own catering facilities of the advantages of the new glass washing machine for the bar sink: The alternative to washing by hand cleans up to 26 glasses depending on size at 70° in only 45 seconds and quickly cools them down so they are ready for use again immediately."

The European Beer Star was awarded this year for the fourth time. The star launched jointly by the Private Brauereien Bayern, the honorary sponsor of the exhibition, and the German and European federation shone more brightly than ever in 2007. 575 beers from all over the world – 30 % more than last year – competed for the coveted award in 40 categories. Exhibitors and visitors at BRAU Beviale 2007 who appreciate a genuine beer with character also played a major role here. They tested the gold medal beers on the first day of the exhibition and selected their Consumer Favourites. Gold for Kitzmann Weißbierbock, Kitzmann Bräu KG of Erlangen (D), silver for Primator Premium Dark, Pivovar Nachod a.s. (CZ) and bronze for Aventinus, Private Weißbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn GmbH of Kelheim (D).

The production volume of the some 650 German companies with their 57, 500 employees is divided approximately equally between food processing machinery, which includes beverage production machinery, and packaging machinery, which includes a large share of beverage filling and beverage packaging machinery. Last year's production volume rose by 7 % to 9.3 billion EUR (2005: 8.7 billion EUR).

The industry's upward trend with an average 80 % export rate continued without interruption in the first half of 2007. The production volume grew by 15.7% to 4.8 billion EUR. The German association – Fachverband Nahrungsmittelmaschinen und Verpackungs-maschinen im Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau (VDMA) – expects 12 % growth for the whole year. 5% growth is expected in 2008 due to the high basic value.

1.7 billion hl of beer was brewed worldwide in 2006, almost 100 million hl or 6 % more than 2005 (Barth Hop Report 2006/07, Nürnberg). The growth came mainly from Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. China, the world's biggest brewer (351 million hl), accounted for around half the growth. China is followed in the beer market ranking by the USA (232 million hl), Germany (107 million hl), Russia (100 million hl) and Brazil (94 million hl). The strongest growth markets in Europe are Romania, the Ukraine and Russia. In terms of per head consumption, the Czechs still hold first place with 159 l, ahead of the Irish (133 l), Germans (116 l), Austrians (111 l), Britons (96 l), Estonians (94 l), Belgians and Lithuanians (both 91 l), Finns (88 l) and Danes (87 l).

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