TuttoFood kicks off, 5 thousand exhibitors and 4 thousand buyers expected

"For Fiere di Parma," said President Mosconi, "it is an honour and, at the same time, a responsibility to work, as we have been doing for some years, on the construction of a truly international platform for food and beverage companies. Significantly, the Parma-Milan-Cologne route embraces the two most important manufactures in the European Union and - we are deeply convinced of this - represents an example of supra-regional collaboration between public and private players'.

"In the new global economic balance, marked by geopolitical instability and increasing market fragmentation, it is essential to build international platforms capable of accompanying companies in their growth and internationalisation processes," said Carlo Bonomi, president of Fiera Milano. In this scenario, Tuttofood 2026 confirms itself as a global reference point for agrifood and Made in Italy, promoting innovation, relations and new development opportunities on international markets".

Alliances that aggregate resources and energies join the more than ten-year partnership between Parma and Koelnmesse, organiser in Cologne of Anuga, a true giant among the exhibitions of the agrifood world.

An integral part of this system is Ice-Agenzia, which with its important Buyer's Programme ensures Tuttofood a selection of international operators among food buyers operating in both retail and catering.

Present at the inauguration was the president, Matteo Zoppas, who said, '2025 confirmed the structural strength of Italy's agri-food industry with exports up by 5% on the previous year and a record value of 72.5 billion despite an international context marked by geopolitical tensions and uncertainties. The recognition ofItalian Cuisine as an intangible heritage of Unesco strengthens the positioning and perceived value of our agro-food industry, functioning as a soft power for the entire Made in Italy sector. There are certainly critical issues to be addressed: the crisis in the Middle East directly affects energy costs and raw materials, and American tariffs are producing tangible effects with -21.9% of exports to the United States in the first two months of 2026. The government is working to open new trade channels to emerging areas to enable Italian companies to conquer new markets. Ice's role is strategic: in 2025 we supported over 2,200 Italian companies in the agri-food sector alone and involved more than 2,000 foreign operators in missions in Italia. At Tuttofood we brought more than 200 operators from 36 countries including Saudi Arabia, South America, Canada, China, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore. In 2026 we are planning 258 initiatives dedicated to Food & Wine including e commerce actions, agreements with large international distribution, and participation in fairs in Italia and abroad. In a rapidly changing world, ICE continues to be a point of reference for the internationalisation of Italian companies, contributing to consolidating the growth of a sector that represents 15% of the national GDP".