Three key figures to characterize the Iraqi market: Value of own food and beverage production US$ 2.917 billion, food imports US$ 6.333 billion and hundreds of millions of US$ invested annually in modern processing technology; EUROMAP country cluster plastics confirms high double-digit annual growth for Iraq.

It’s been only a few months, that iraq agrofood (https://bit.ly/2WrZ0Y1) & plastprintpack (https://bit.ly/2VkMusd) was presented for the first time. But already now more than 90 well-known exhibitors from 15 countries have signed-up, ready to display their products, solutions and technologies. A great result for a launch event in Iraq. Organized by the German trade show specialists fairtrade (https://bit.ly/2Y4vBDT) in cooperation with their Iraqi partners Home Land Events (Homeland-Events.com) the show is scheduled for 15-17 April 2019 at the Baghdad International Fair Ground. The event enjoys the strong support of the Ministry of Trade of Iraq and its subsidiary institutions, the State Company for Iraqi Fairs & Commercial Services and the Baghdad International Fair Ground.

iraq agrofood is Iraq’s 1st International Trade Show on Agriculture, Food Processing & Packaging Technology and Food & Hospitality whereas plastprintpack is Iraq’s 1st International Plastics, Printing and Packaging Trade Show.

What makes iraq agrofood & plastprintpack 2019 so unique?

• Not less than 4 country pavilions are present already in the launch event, namely from Germany, Iran, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
• Additional countries are represented with leading individual exhibitors coming from Austria, China, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Lebanon, Mongolia, Morocco, Russia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
• Strong presence of international market leaders in crop and  animal production, food, beverage and packaging technology, food & hospitality, plastics raw materials and plastprintpack technology.
• The interactive agrofood (www.agrofood.fairtrade-messe.com) & plastprintpack (www.plastprintpack.fairtrade-messe.com) portals allowing exhibitors and visitors to communicate and to arrange business meetings before, during and after the event, all year round.

Three key figures to characterize the Iraqi market

Currently, the Iraqi market can be characterized by three key figures. The value of its own food and beverage production amounts to US$ 2.917 billion. Food imports add up to US$ 6.333 billion. (FAOSTAT) And hundreds of millions of dollars are invested annually in modern agrofood & plastprintpack processing technology.

A unique concept: iraq agrofood covers the entire value chain - from field to fork

iraq agrofood consists of the 3 sub-brands iraq agro, iraq food + bev tec and iraq food + hospitality.

•  iraq agro for crop production, agricultural technology and animal husbandry. Interestingly, Iraq, with 547 million € between 2012 and 2016, is the Middle East’s second largest importer of agricultural machinery. Right after Saudi Arabia (716 million €), and well before Iran (464 million €) and the UAE (319 million €). (VDMA German Engineering Federation)
• iraq food + bev tec for food & beverage process and packaging technology, bakery & confectionery, food and drink ingredients. From 2012 to 2017 Iraq imported 524 million € worth of food and beverage processing and packaging machinery, making it one of the five largest buyers of such technology in the Middle East. (VDMA) A clear signal of the political will to expand local food production and the „Made-in-Iraq“-trend. Continuous growth is expected in the coming years.
• iraq food + hospitality for food, beverages and foodservice. The value of Iraq’s own food and beverage production amounts to US$ 2.917 billion in 2014. In the same year Iraq imported US$ 6,333 billion worth of food and agricultural products. (FAOSTAT).

plastprintpack iraq: The EUROMAP country cluster plastics confirms high double-digit annual growth for Iraq

Iraqi imports of plastics machinery amounted to 126 million € between 2013 and 2017, of packaging technology to 212 million € and of printing technology to 103 million €. (VDMA)

Since all but 1% of all plastics raw materials are imported, mainly from the Middle East, Asia and Europe, the Iraqi market has great potential for commodity exporters. Between 2007 and 2015, the import of plastic raw materials grew by 35% annually, from 9 kt to 99 kt, a plus of one thousand percent!

The country's plastic consumption shows an annual growth of 31% over the same period. It has grown 11-fold from 15 kt in 2009 to 169 kt in 2018 and is estimated at 218 kt in 2020.

54% of plastics consumption is accounted for by packaging, 23% by the construction industry, 4% for electrical, electronics and telecom, 3% for automotive and the remainder by various items. (EUROMAP European Plastics and Rubber Machinery)