12% of the foreign companies present at Tuttofood Milano 2025 come from Asian and Pacific countries (including China): a fact that emerged during the Japanese stage of the international roadshow “The Italian Aperitivo”, developed in the last year by Fiere di Parma and Agenzia Ice to present the event to food & beverage stakeholders worldwide. The roadshow, now in its tenth stage, has seen the participation in the last year of over 1000 decision makers among the representatives of the most important international companies, top buyers and collectives.

The evening saw the gathering at our Embassy in Tokyo of entrepreneurs from Japan and beyond, international buyers, TPOs (Trade Promotion Organisations), local journalists and important stakeholders, welcomed by our Ambassador in Tokyo Gianluigi Benedetti and the CEO of Fiere di Parma Antonio Cellie .

The meeting was an opportunity to confirm the presence of a large Japanese delegation at the Milan event, thanks to the collaboration with the local offices of Ita Tokyo and Koelnmesse Gmbh. “Faced with the unknown of the duties threatened by the Trump administration, Fiere di Parma reacted promptly, shifting its focus to countries with extraordinary potential, constantly growing in terms of demographics and income, such as Japan and Korea and, more generally, to the dynamic market of Asian and Pacific countries, including China”, stated Antonio Cellie .

Furthermore, in presenting Tuttofood Milano 2025, Cellie underlined the highly innovative aspects of the event: “This 2025 edition, organized for the first time by Fiere di Parma and Koelnmesse, marks an important evolution of the Milanese event which, thanks to the use of interactive technologies, experiential formats and areas dedicated to new food & beverage trends, will transform itself into an innovation hub and an international showcase for business”.

Tuttofood will host over 25% of foreign exhibitors, will welcome around 90,000 visitors, including more than 3,000 top international buyers, who will be able to discover new products and form strategic partnerships with Italian, European and international companies. Companies from all over the world will cover the entire agri-food supply chain and all key sectors for the retail and food service offer, from Grocery to fresh products to semi-finished products, there will be a wide selection of PDO, PGI, organic and gourmet products, not only Italian, in addition to the latest news in the foodtech and sustainable food sector, with a focus on quality, authenticity and innovation.

This geographic area represents a market of great interest for Italy and the world: according to data provided by NielsenIQ, updated to 2024, regarding the performance of consumer goods, these areas recorded organic growth in value of +2.7%, driven by a recovery in volume growth, which went from -0.9% in 2023 to +2.5% in 2024. Given the weakening of unit price growth (slowed from +2.6% to +0.2%), volume growth will remain a key element in 2025. Moving into the world of food, the “fresh food” industry is the one that has recorded the strongest growth in volume worldwide, and this area of the world confirms this trend, growing by 3% in volume and proving to be the region with the most dynamic value trend, behind only Africa and the Middle East. Looking at the categories of Italian products most exported abroad, it emerges that the Asia-Pacific region is the one in which coffee powder and beans recorded the greatest growth in volume, with a +2.3%; dry pasta, another very successful product abroad, also recorded the greatest growth in volume in the same geographical area with a +5.8%, as did oil (+6.1%) and tomato paste (+8.1%). (Data 2024 vs 2023)

“These numbers are justified by a series of factors that contribute to the evolution of sales channels in Asian countries, starting with the modernization of traditional commerce, thanks to digitalization and the improvement of infrastructures,” said Beatrice Bonizzoni , Business Development Global Snapshot at NielsenIQ. “Decisive factors have also been the growth, in number and importance, of small stores, the up-trading and down-trading* strategies in super and hypermarkets, as well as the strong development of advanced e-commerce such as quick commerce and social commerce,” concluded Bonizzoni .

Another great new feature of this edition will be the official off-site of the fair, which will transform Milan into a stage dedicated to food culture, with events, tastings, show-cooking and exclusive meetings with international chefs and brands. For operators from all over the world, this will be an extraordinary opportunity to experience Italian (which remains a point of reference at a global level) and global food & beverage in an authentic context, discovering trends and inspirations directly on the territory.