Agroalimentaria 2015 International Fair of Food, Tobacco and Beverages ended its fifth edition last week with record contract signing for more than US$350 million.
The executive director of the Center for Export and Investment (CEI-RD), Jean Alain Rodriguez, and the executive president of the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD), Osmar Benitez, said that Agroalimentaria 2015 sales had been 68% higher than in the previous 2013 edition. The event took place from 7 to 9 May at the Dominican Fiesta Hotel in Santo Domingo.
The organizers said that the products attracting the highest demand from the international buyers were avocados, peppers, mango, pineapple, organic cocoa beans, chocolate, cassava, rum, oriental vegetables and cucumber. Sales of eggplants, strawberries, passion fruit pulp, cassava, fruit juices, bananas, tomatoes and jams were also strong.
Meanwhile, JAD executive president Osmar Benitez stated that Agroalimentaria was a platform that helped link domestic producers with to more competitive agribusiness practices, as they could sell their products in international markets, through the contacts between exhibitors and buyers, and be updated about the international standards through the many talks and lectures that take place during the Fair.
He also said that the fair had been organized with the aim of promoting and increasing exports, and that this was the only international exhibition of its kind in the Dominican Republic and the largest one in the Caribbean.
International buyers came from United States, Europe, Panama, Germany, Russia, Japan, Venezuela and El Salvador, and from the Bahamas, Barbados, Curacao and other Caribbean islands.
There were also representatives of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, France, and Germany as well as buyers from India, Turkey, South Korea, Romania, Taiwan, Egypt and United Arab Emirates.