Both exhibitions were held in Tashkent’s UzExpoCenter on 25-27 March. The exhibitions were organized by the ITE Uzbekistan Exhibition Company and its partner: the British Exhibition Company ITE Exhibitions & Conferences Ltd.

Food industry and agriculture occupy a significant share in the national economy of Uzbekistan therefore both exhibitions are going to be very relevant in context of intensive development growth of both sectors. The exhibitions are a good platform to demonstrate domestic and foreign equipment, materials and technologies for food and processing enterprises, agro-industrial firms and farms.

The key objective of the exhibitions is to present the latest innovations in food & drink production, modern technologies, processing and packaging equipment and machinery as well as to create conditions for establishment of mutually beneficial cooperation.

During the period of their existence, the exhibitions have got a status of the most prestigious annual events in the area of food production and agriculture of Uzbekistan. Every year, the exhibitions achieve new records proving their confident growth and development.

This year, the 9th Uzbek International Exhibition WorldFood Uzbekistan 2009 and the 4th Uzbek International Exhibition AgroWorld Uzbekistan 2009 have gathered together more than 80 companies from 26 countries. As compared to the last year, the exposition growth was 10%. The countries-participants included Austria, Byelorussia, Germany, Holland, Greece, Denmark, Israel, India, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, Lithuania, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, the USA, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

The exposition included machinery and equipment for processing and storage of food and agricultural products; mini-production lines for agriculture and gardening; packaging lines; vet drugs; and various food products: meat, sausages, dairy products, food ingredients and spices, deserts, drinks, including beer and vine. Also, some land improvement machinery were demonstrated; as well as conveyors, dispensing, forming and shop equipment, breweries, automatic canning machines, equipment for saloon bars, catering cafes and house kitchens.

The exposition of WorldFood and AgroWorld reflects dynamics of some structural changes taking place in the food industry, agriculture and processing industry of Uzbekistan and evidence and interest displayed by international companies to the Uzbek market. There was a noticeable growth in number of participants, practically of debutants mostly from European countries, which composed 40% of the total participation. This number proves a tendency of large companies to expand sales markets of their products that can be considered as of one of the important marketing strategies in conditions of the global financial crisis.

Local companies occupied around 15% in the total number of participants. Among them, food producers: AIRPRODSNAB (ketchups, mayonnaises, confitures, mustard and etc.), GEOMAX, Mar-Pak Plus (meat product ingredients). The active participation of the local producers confirms importance of the exhibitions for promotion of qualitative food stuffs in the local market and establishment of environment for surveying consumer demand and trends for the sector development in near future.

This year was announced as the year of Rural Development in Uzbekistan and farmer interests are also covered in the exposition very well. Particularly, the exposition of AgroWorld Uzbekistan has become wider and now includes production and processing equipment, crop production equipment, livestock and poultry production equipment, and fertilizers. Traditional participants - ТЕХНА (Ukraine) and DEGIRMENCIOGLU (Turkey) are accompanied with debutants: the Holland company DALSEM - presenting technologies and equipment for greenhouses, EURODRIP (Greece), which will demonstrate the latest achievements in drip irrigation. Many companies will exhibit agricultural machinery and equipment for livestock and poultry farms: GSI GROUP (the USA), BIG DUTCHMAN (Germany), HY LINE (Ukraine), ROSSI&CATELLI (Italy) and the others. The local agricultural machinery plant - CHIRCHIKSELMASH will exhibit its machinery in the open ground for the first time.

Considering importance of machinery and equipment supply to the rural areas, the second day of the exhibitions was dedicated to farmers and was called “A farmer day”. This day, representatives of farm enterprises from all over Uzbekistan visited the exhibitions. Their visit was organized under support of the Farm Association of Uzbekistan.