ISM: 50 years of sweets

ISM is the biggest annual trade fair for sweets and snacks in the world, which has been organised for 50 years. In 2020 Cologne hosted the event between 2 and 5 February. There were 1,774 companies from 76 countries introducing their products and services in an area of 120,000m². From 148 countries 37,000 visitors came to ISM. Traditionally both the biggest market players and SMEs are present at ISM. 70 percent of visitors were international and 88 percent of exhibitors were non-German.

This year snacking – the most important megatrend in the industry – was featured in two different sections (Trend Snacks and Natural Snacks). In the New Product Showcase 178 new innovations of 100 exhibitors from 33 countries competed. According to the jury, the top innovations were Dr. Karg‘s Bio Lentil Snacks from Germany, Petit Melo® by Confiserie Vandenbulcke from Belgium and Licorice Coooky by Coppenrath Feingebäck from Germany. This year the ISM Packaging Award was given to Froben Druck GmbH & Co from Germany, for their labels made of KG grass.

In February 2020 ISM and ProSweets Cologne hosted #CONNECT2030 for the first time. This was a conference organised to discuss the future of the snack and confectionery industry. The event was a great success, where the best experts talked about artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning. ProSweets Cologne is a trade show for the suppliers of the confectionery and snack industries, which took place at the same time as ISM. Here 260 exhibitors from 32 countries showcased their products and services to more than 18,000 visitors from 100 countries. //