Guide
Anuga 2027: how a food exporter should prepare
Anuga in Cologne is one of the largest food and drink trade fairs in the world, and it only happens every other year. Here is when the next one is, who can get in, and how to plan for its size.
When and where
Anuga 2027 runs from 9 to 13 October 2027 at the Koelnmesse fairgrounds in Cologne. It is organised by Koelnmesse and held every two years, so if you miss it, the next one is in 2029. Read on anuga.com in October 2026.
Do not confuse it with Anuga FoodTec, a separate Koelnmesse fair for food processing technology, which runs from 23 to 26 February 2027.
How big it is
The organiser reports that the 2025 edition had over 8,000 exhibiting companies from 110 countries and more than 145,000 trade visitors from over 190 nations. Whatever you sell, the people buying it are probably there. The hard part is finding them in five days.
Who can get a ticket
Anuga is for trade visitors only. The organiser defines them as decision-makers in food and drink, such as management, purchasing, store management, sales and marketing, along with food technologists and nutrition professionals, and asks visitors for evidence of trade status when they buy a ticket. Tickets are sold on anuga.com.
Six to eight weeks before
Use the organiser’s exhibitor search to find importers and distributors. At a fair this size, walking the halls hoping to meet buyers wastes days. Look for companies that bring products like yours into the markets you want, and note which hall each one is in.
Pick twenty companies and write to them before you travel. One line on why you fit, one saying you will be in Cologne, and a request for fifteen minutes at their stand. Book times, and group them by hall so you are not crossing the fairgrounds all day.
Prepare what you will be asked for. Spec sheets, certificates, shelf life, minimum order, and how you ship to each market. Write to buyers in their own language where you can.
Check your email arrives. A note in a spam folder looks exactly like a note that was ignored. Our guide on why buyer emails go to spam covers the three records to check.
During the show
Write on the back of every card that evening: what they asked, what you promised, and one detail that will remind them who you are. After five days, you will not remember.
Keep the price for the follow-up. A considered answer by email next week is better than a number guessed in the aisle.
After the show
Send what you promised in the first few days, then one short, personal note to everybody else, then one or two more over the following weeks, each with something new to say. Our trade show follow-up guide has the week-by-week plan and three short notes you can adapt.
The short version
Anuga 2027 is 9 to 13 October in Cologne, and the next one after that is in 2029. It is trade only. Find importers and distributors on the exhibitor list, book meetings by hall, write to buyers in their language, and follow up within the week.
Next: How to follow up with buyers after a food trade show
Or let an agent do the looking. OleaDesk researches buyers who match your product and your market, checks that each one has a working address, and writes the first email in your own voice for you to approve. The trial is free and takes about ten minutes to set up. See how it works, or download it for Windows.