To start the week off right, we have about 200 photos of (technical) suppliers at the IPM Essen. The fair took place again last week for the first time since 2020.
Click here for our photo report of (technical) suppliers
Let's start with some figures. A total of 40,000 people from over 100 countries visited IPM Essen. There were 1330 companies from 46 countries at the fair. One-third of the visitors came from abroad, i.e., not from Germany.
By comparison, in 2020, 54,000 people and 1,538 exhibitors were registered. Back then, 40% of the visitors came from abroad, and 63 were non-German. Now the world looks evidently different from 2020. Corona was on the verge of starting, and neither the current energy crisis, war with Russia, or exploding inflation were on anyone's radar.
These developments greatly affected flower and plant sales, from stagnant to record highs, to worrisome, and everything in between. However, the other big topic, climate change, was already on the agenda, and the level of footprint-calculating, carbon sequestering, and biodiversity-saving solutions and initiatives was as high as ever.
In terms of technology, the limited presence of LED suppliers and the absence of "regular" players like Gakon-Netafim was striking. The company decided to skip the fair this year because this year the preference is for direct contact with growers while setting up online communication with growers worldwide
The fair also discussed booth fees, which have risen considerably. Nevertheless, it can be seen that more and more own stand construction is appearing and that German suppliers also seem to be doing well: there is no skimping on the fair presentation.
In 2024, from January 23 to 26, the 40th edition of IPM Essen will take place.