Sustainability and innovation developments remain at the heart of the World Confectionery Conference
Myrthe de Beukelaar, of Innova Market Insights, was among the speakers at the World Confectionery Conference in Brussels for our 2022 event. Pic: Cedric Puisney
The core dual themes of sustainability and innovation for this year’s World Confectionery Conference remain at the very heart of what drives our remarkably resilient industries, and we are anticipating plenty of key discussion points for our 2024 edition next week.
While it is undeniably the case that the entire food and drink sector has endured a complex and sustained set of challenges over the past few post-pandemic years that have included the impact of ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, economic turbulence and linked inflation pressures that have posed tests to even the largest of corporations operating across our industries.
This coupled with major upcoming regulatory concerns surrounding the EUDR laws designed to ensure that supply chains for major commodities including cocoa are deforestation free, as well as offering greater human rights protection and transparency in sourcing practices that are due to be introduced at the end of this year offer yet further challenges for industries that in many instances, are still dealing with the knock-on effects of Covid-19 upon their businesses.
As far as sustainability is concerned – it’s a huge topic in its own right, which has many different aspects to it that span everything from how companies are responding to the need to be more environmentally responsible in their direct manufacturing operations, and design of equipment to be ever-more energy efficient and flexible, through to consideration of product sourcing and ensuring that business is conducted in as transparent and ethical manner as possible.
Encouragingly, for anyone who has read Confectionery Production magazines over the years, and stories and videos on our website, there are indeed some great strides being made in all these areas, but there’s clearly more to be done. With presentations from the likes of Cargill, Ferrero, Caobisco and Tony’s Chocolonely, these matters of sustainability will certainly be addressed in how industry is reacting to world events.
On the innovation side, our conference is very definitely set to showcase some strong equipment innovations in the form of new machinery from Kruger & Salecker, as well as reflections on how companies can work together to combine their technologies, which will be the subject matter for DT&G Ltd’s presentation this year.
There will of course be some interesting finished product innovation on offer, marked by a memorable landmark for Ferrero, with its Nutella brand turning 60, which will form part of its presentation at this year’s event, and we will hear more on new products and how confectionery makes us feel from UK business Plamil Foods, as well as lots of ingredients innovation that will offer a balanced view of how the sector is performing.
All the above topics and plenty more besides will be placed in the spotlight for our event next week – so if you have yet to register with us on 12 September, then please do so via this direct link, as this is a particularly special occasion marking our 90th anniversary in publishing. With the media world, much like many other spheres of industry, continuing to undergo significant levels of digital transformation, there has indeed been much change in our sector over the past couple of decades in particular.
So here’s looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible next week in Brussels, which remains a very special place for the confectionery sector, and a great place for debate, discussion and networking – which includes our celebrations for nine decades in the industry that will form a fitting finale for our event, following our annual awards that will be celebrating excellence right across our entire combined industries.
Neill Barston, editor, Confectionery Production
- If you have any further questions about the event, do drop me a line at [email protected] or via social media @confectionprod or at our linkedin pages
