Exclusive: ISM and ProSweets 2025 extended review

This year’s ISM and ProSweets made major strides in drawing the two major confectionery shows together, as editor Neill Barston discovers meeting key businesses across the events

With a strong emphasis on deepening relations across the combined events, this year’s ProSweets and ISM proved an inspiring set of showcases for an industry demonstrating confidence in the face of ongoing challenges. Despite background factors including increased supply chain challenges amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, higher energy costs and logistics tests, there remains positivity within the broader sector. (Watch our exclusive video reviews of the 2025 event).

That was the prevailing message from the broad range of exhibitors that Confectionery Production spoke to during the four-day showcase staged between 2-5 February. As previously reported, the events had sought to bounce back from the impact of the pandemic several years ago, and the results of this year’s show were encouraging.

Their mission was achieved with official stats showing that around 32,000 trade visitors from 135 countries attended this year’s ISM, with a total of over 1,500 exhibitors, representing a five per cent upturn over the previous year’s performance. In light of this, there was a clear buzz around the halls of Cologne’s Koelnmesse in Germany, as the shows’ organisers placed a strong emphasis on pressing issues of the moment. This included hosting trends presentations from Euromonitor and Innova Market Insights reflecting on new product development, AI, digitalisation and the future of the sector.

Undoubtedly, one of the stand-out elements this year was the decision to place the new product showcase within the core hall of ProSweets (10.1), which aimed to drive footfall from ISM, underlining the close supply chain connection of the two respective shows. For its part, ProSweets attracted more than 250 businesses from across Europe and further afield.

ISM/PSC Brand Family Stand, Halle 10.1

This spanned everything from packaging and processing machinery enterprises, to specialist labelling, ancillary equipment, as well as leading ingredients companies. In total, 32 nations were represented in Cologne, underscoring a sense of its global industry dynamic. Speaking exclusively to our publication, Markus Rustler, president and CEO of Theegarten-Pactec, commented that he had been encouraged by the staging and quality of ProSweets this year.

He said: “So far, we’re quite happy with the results. There have been plenty of visitors to our booth, both existing and new people, and we had some good discussion on projects. “When we come to an exhibition like ProSweets, we try to show our customers something made of steel. We still believe that to be able to see and touch the real equipment is the right approach. This year, we once again brought our CHS line, in a new variation. It is a machine that is equipped for high speed wrapping of small chocolate tablets, of around five grammes), and for this show we have been running them in double lanes, and at around 1,800 pieces per minute, which is by far the fastest available in the world,” adding that the company had also enjoyed a high number of conversations about the SweetConnect digital hub initiative, of which it is a founder member.

As he explained, there has been considerable positive momentum with the online service platform, which recently brought on board new members including Denmark’s Aasted, and Hansel Processing has also now joined its ranks. Commenting on its participation, Mirjam Van Dijk, chief operating officer of Orangeworks, which includes the Tanis Food Tec brand, felt its prominent stand placement, which included live bakery showcases, had paid off this year.

She said: “The event has gone much better than perhaps we were initially expecting, and we’re very happy with the quality of the people coming, and the international background of those visitors. “The combination of ISM and ProSweets has been proven, and that has been the real key for success, and it gets a lot of people across both shows. It’s like a reunion, and everyone is looking for new things on the product sides as well as the machinery side.

“What we have now seen is that working with our end customers on products, as well as the machinery, and ingredients is something that goes hand in hand. You can’t just develop equipment without understanding your customers processes. So that has extended to our new innovations on the steam baking side, combining it with aerated creams from Tanis Food Tec,” she explained, noting that being on top of the overall market demands was of vital importance.

Packaging system advances
For its part, Syntegon participated at this year’s show with a particularly prominent booth, which showcased the Makat Nutraflash turnkey line designed for starchless gummy production. On the packaging side, the business once again demonstrated its recently developed SVX vertical form fill and seal system. Dr Sandra Link, of its Makat brand, commented: “It’s been quite exciting to be at ProSweets again, so we can show the whole confectionery line solutions that we offer.

“We’ve had some great discussions on all our different processes, from confectionery kitchens through to final packaging,” explained the equipment specialist, who noted that sustainability remains a core aspect of its machinery design, including its patented energy recovery system (which reportedly delivers up to 50 per cent savings), that was also brought to the fore at this year’s event. “Each ProSweets is different, there are always new trends being exhibited here, including on nutraceutical, which is something that’s growing continuously with new ingredients and types of products.”

For her part, Dieuwertje Raaijmakers, a marketing specialist for Netherlands-based colouring foods group, GNT, enthused about the company’s latest applications derived from its longstanding plant-based Exberry series. As she explained, one of the stand-out features of its vibrant stand at ProSweets was a display of unusual natural colours for crisp ranges, including shades of blue and a spice-inspired red variety.

“The reaction we’ve had from visitors has been really good, and they’ve been very enthusiastic about the potato chips that we’ve been displaying, which are in all the colours of the rainbow, from green to red and blue, and we showed them together with the concepts we came up with, such as the red one linking to an African spice mix, really delivering the stories that colour can tell with a product,” she explained, asserting that consumers had made clear preferences for colours to be natural and sustainably sourced.

Significantly, there were a wide range of presentations from established and emerging businesses across the confectionery sector, from emerging start-ups, to reflections from well-established manufacturers.

With displaying innovation being right at the heart of the event’s purpose, Swiss headquartered upcycled cocoa fruit business gave key presentations at the event. Jacob Hesse, of the business, gave an outline of its operations in Ghana, where it is presently working with around 4,000 smallholder farmers.

As he revealed, working with communities on the ground to maximise the use of cacao fruit for a wide range of products, that has so far spanned drinks, through to establishing links with major chocolate producers such as Lindt has beed particularly rewarding.

He explained that there were several key trends that the business had responded to with its product development, including ensuring that its manufacturing is as sustainable as possible to meet environmental mindfulness considerations, as well as devising products that are innovative and novel, which he observed was particularly valued by younger generations.

Equipment strides
Another prominent exhibitor  this year was a returning visit for fellow Netherlands business, Caotech, specialising in ball mills for the cocoa and chocolate market. As sales director Olaf Schepel observed, there had been a strong footfall to the main ProSweets hall, which was matched by the level of visitor quality.

“It’s very important for us to be here, there’s a lot of international traffic and we are here to promote our name, and quality of equipment that we have with us. We have seen there is a trend of people going for larger machinery capacities for cocoa and chocolate, so we’re now focusing on those bigger lines with automatic cleaning systems, which is an important development for the company.”

For its part, German confectionery machinery business Kruger & Salecker returned with another significant display of its latest confectionery moulding line, which it presented as a complete solution on its stand.

Speaking to Confectionery Production, Tammo Bettex, chief financial officer for the business, explained there had been plenty of interest in the system, which saw crowds gather for regular demonstrations of the equipment each day.

He said: “For this year’s show we have been demonstrating our compact line for multi-layer products, offering a combination of our moulding capabilities, used with other depositing and enrobing systems, which we aimed to show how we can make these products using less than eight metres space, which our moulding technology allows,” he explained, noting that customers had increasingly sought out ‘one-stop shop’ turnkey solutions, which Kruger could enable working with partner businesses to complement its moulding lines.

In addition, he added that while the demos at this year’s ProSweets had been set up for eye-catching praline chocolates, the line was completely possible for other bars and other confectionery products.

Meanwhile, over in Italy, machinery company PackInt chocolate machines, relayed that it had enjoyed a great deal of footfall to its booth in Hall 10.1 for this year’s show.

Lorenzo Datei, sales manager of the equipment firm, which has been manufacturing for more than 30 years near Milan, felt it had been a considerable success.

He said: “This is always a very busy exhibition for us, as we offer machinery that is in between small and large scale, so we had lots of visitors here who have maybe looked at big suppliers and are aware of their prices, so they come to us instead. We have had contact from plenty of people who are small manufacturers looking to scale up, so this edition has been fantastic,” he explained, noting the only challenging year at the show had been its covid-19 impacted show of 2022, which had seen notably reduced footfall. 

Among businesses representing the UK, Rochdale’s BCH returned, demonstrating its capabilities for liquorice production, extruded fruit, caramels, and wider food segments.

The company’s senior process engineer Lee Fish, of BCH, relayed that the firm was pleased with the response from its customers, adding that the company was in a positive position moving into 2025, with a strong order book of machinery.

From the wafer machinery side, Hebenstreit also delivered a distinctive stand for its return to Koelnmesse. Marcel Starke, general sales director, remarked that the company had enjoyed an especially strong few days at the show.

Significantly, he revealed that the event had yielded some excellent prospects, and in spite of wider sector background challenges, the firm’s order book remained in a positive position, as demand continued for flexible machinery across snacking and bakery ranges. He said: “One of the most important topics right now is in cocoa prices, so when you look at our wafer products that our customers produce, a lot of them are covered in real chocolate. “So, after the last twelve months, there has been a lot of demand placed on us as to how they can reduce that amount of chocolate, and whether volumes and thickness of wafer can be increased, which has been a driving factor in the industry.”

Strong machinery demand
For its part, British business DT&G Ltd, specialists in chocolate coating and polishing systems, also experienced an encouraging few days at the show, sharing a stand with long-established German chocolate tank business, Rinsch.

“It has been a really interesting event, as we’ve had a great variety of people coming to see us here with so many different projects. It seems to be very innovative how people are coping with the cocoa prices at the moment, which is quite exciting in lots of ways,” enthused Lyn Pitt, managing director for DT&G Ltd.

She added a particular note of thanks to her joint stand exhibitors for what she believed was an especially strong collaboration. Another notable appearance this year came from Germany’s Schubert Packaging systems. This saw the company’s team demonstrating its latest TLM Cartoner innovation to Confectionery Production. This has been designed to offer notable savings through seamlessly interacting with its linked automated comfort feeder.

The company also highlighted its flow packing and pick and place advances. Also within the packaging equipment stakes, Renato Dell’Oro, of Livetech equipment delivered an upbeat assessment of its showcase. He noted there had been particularly encouraging interactions with visitors.

He said: “It has been quite a busy exhibition, and my first with the company, and a real success. From those who have visited ISM this year, they will have seen a lot of products in pouches, for which we have solutions with our secondary packaging machines,” explaining that the business had played particularly close attention in ensuring its lines have been bestowed with user-friendly HMI systems and advanced robotics to deliver speed and flexibility of operation.

Similarly, Roberto Lattarulo, marketing manager for Acma equipment, felt that the event had offered a significant platform to its machinery innovations. These included the unveiling of its FP Paper Smart line, offering high-speed solutions for primary and secondary packaging, as well as showcasing its Material Gate testing system for sustainable product wrapping. “We have been here at ProSweets to offer a clear value proposition for Acma, in that we are going to be there when material changes happen in transitioning from plastic to paper, we’ll be there to support our customers.

“We’ve shown the FP Paper Smart Line, which includes a three point vision system that enables customers to track the flow of products to identify any potential issues. It’s also supported by AI algorithms that offer suggestions on how to fine tune the machine in order to make it work perfectly,” enthused the marketing manager. He explained that there had been a significantly positive reaction to the system, as well as its Material Gate twisting innovation, forming part of its sustainably-focused equipment portfolio.

Furthermore, another machinery business reporting encouraging signs from its showing this year, was Australian-headquartered TNA solutions. James Hosford, regional solutions specialist for EMEA region, commented: “We have had a good selection of existing customers and new prospects that we did not know, which is nice to get those new leads, as in theory you would never have met them if we hadn’t been here. “It’s been an intensive few days that have been pretty positive.

“The footfall may be down a little bit, but the quality is there. So the companies that we wanted to see have all turned up, and we’ve had some constructive meetings,” stated the sales manager, who concluded there had been plenty of interest in its flagship Robag form fill and seal line, with its core market focused on high-speed fill and pack solutions.

Moreover, another equipment firm attracting plenty of interest was Netherlands-based Tanis Confectionery, known for its focus on gums and jellies production processing systems.

Area sales manager Hans Flipse, believed there had been an encouraging mix of visitors from across the two events. He said: “The show for us was a success compared to last year, as we had a lot more visitors on our booth, and a lot of interest in new equipment novelties, as well as people coming to see our company mascot, Teddy, who has been around the show.”

Another prominent business came in the form of Swiss-based Trikno, which exhibited its Alpha CAD hybrid confectionery processing machine, which the company said had gained a strong response.

CEO Marc Fuchs said there had been some very encouraging feedback.  “We had a really good enquiry and to gain an order during the exhibition is very nice indeed, we were able to present our new modular systems, which is what we wanted to show on our line, which was well received from our customers.”

Significantly, second hand machinery firm specialists, Ecomec spoke to Confectionery Production, confirming that the business had seen a steady stream of interest from across the company.

Greg Meredith, managing director commented that the 2025 edition felt like there had been an increase in footfall over the previous edition, that had given the businesses cause for optimism.

He said: “This has felt better this year for sure, though we won’t be doing it for 2026 because of Interpack, but it’s clearly the number one event, it is very much in our niche confectionery market, and there are clients there from ISM as well. It’s one of our favourites. It’s often the case that we will see a lot of the same people – some may be in the industry 30-40 years, so it’s a familiar crowd, but good to meet a lot of people in a short period of time,” noted the specialist who added that cocoa prices had dominated headlines in recent times, which in turn was having an impact on their spending on related processing equipment.

Another longstanding contributor to ProSweets has been ZDS, the German central school of confectionery, which remains part of Confectionery Production’s editorial board.

For his part, Andreas Bertram, believed there had been a significant amount of positive discussions from visitors from around the world. He said; “For me, the ISM and ProSweets engagement this year was a very great moment. We have a strong spirit and are back again in business, the content was excellent, it was a big show for us and I’m totally excited after several days here, gaining a lot of new members, and very much interest for our seminars this year. Next year is going to be an outstanding year for us as we celebrate our 75th anniversary,” adding that he hoped it would prove a major spotlight for its major activities of networking and training for the global confectionery sector.

Major Mercosur trade deal forum
Among the other significant highlights of this years’ two shows was a major discussion form on the upcoming Mercosur trade deal between Europe and South America.

Notably, the long-running saga of the trade agreement between the two continents that has been sought by the two continents for the past two decades now appears near conclusion, with a host of market segments set to potentially benefit from the landmark agreement. The project, which was agreed in early December 2024, seeks bi-lateral trade and investment agreements between the European trading bloc and its South American counterparts has been widely welcomed across industries. Rupert Schlegelmilch, former director general of the European Commission, welcomed the prospect of the Mercosur deal.

He said: “The Mercosur deal has been in the making for a very long time, and has a very compelling logic, not only from an economic point of view, but we are very close to this region – people speak Spanish and Portuguese, and we have been there for a long time. We have a sense of values and cultural ties, and economic ties. We used to be the biggest trading partner there in this region, but that is now China. “So, we are trying to use the possibilities that we have within a market that has been rather protected in the past to link with the Mercosur countries. Our strength is in exporting, and we have an agricultural surplus that total €70 billion, which is huge,” he asserted, noting that Mercosur did indeed bring some strong potential value all-round.

For his part, vice president of Caobisco, European chocolate, biscuits and confectionery trade group, Aldo Cristiano, also noted the potential that Mercosur offered, offering strong economic benefits. He said: “Our industry of confectionery is very important for European food trade, contributing significantly to the EU community, We’ve seen recently that the ‘competitive compass’ that came out recently, says very clearly that diversifying and strengthening are vital for continuing market access,” noting that an EU and Mercosur agreement would represent 20 per cent of the global economy, which he hailed as a ‘huge number’ and observed that the deal would give Europe access to markets that it previously had not been active within.

The panel also heard from Jaime Recena, CEO of Abicab, the Brazilian confectionery association, who saw the potential merits of the agreement, as did Bastian Fassin, of Katjes confectionery, who believed the full potential of the deal should be explored. Meanwhile, Ms Professor Katharina Riehn, vice president of the German Agricultural Society, the DLG, noted that one of the key aspects of this major agreement would be that national standards in food quality must be maintained as a central aspect of its implementation.

Event Awards
Three businesses with a strong focus on sustainability and clear innovation have claimed honours at the ISM 2025 awards in Cologne. As the event organisers noted, the top spot went to Netherlands-based Primus Wafer Paper BV, which caught the eye of judges with the product’s ultra-thin, potato starch wafers with an intense and, surprisingly sour apple and lemon taste.

The forward-thinking business offered both a strong taste experience, and well thought-out development, as well as having notably strong sustainability credentials, according to judges. Its manufacturing base is within a BRC-A+ certified production facility. Results this year were analysed by an independent jury comprising of renowned experts from the industry, trade and world of science evaluated 110 products submitted by 65 companies.

Meanwhile, Ulrich Zuenelli, managing partner of the Italian-based Loacker confectionery group and member of the third generation of the entrepreneur family Loacker-Zuenelli, has been bestowed with the individual ISM Award 2025. The senior executive has held various executive positions at the family company, Loacker, a leading global brand for premium wafer and chocolate specialities, since 1996.

Another especially encouraging element of this year’s ISM was the focus on start-up businesses. While emerging enterprises have always featured in the show, this year, they were given a prominent boulevard placement, attracting companies from around the world. One such firm, the Marukin Group, from Japan, attracted significant interest with its Natto chocolate, which drew attention for its health benefit claims. Anthony Haendel, overseas sales representative, commented: “I would say it has been a good few days here, introducing Japanese superfoods to the world. “We’ve enjoyed meeting people here and talking about Natto and the superfood benefits that it has, which is high in protein and nutrition. It’s a really good opportunity, and we’ve have had a positive response.”

One of this year’s ISM award winners, Belgium’s Vandenbulcke, was in especially celebratory mood at the event after its honours, and explained to Confectionery Production that it had been especially proud to have gained its latest accolade.

Hanne Deneturck, marketing manager, commented: “To have won an award has made this a particularly good edition for us. We won the golden award three years ago, and we created a product that reduced waste – using waste around cocoa pulp by 70%, and this year we innovated the product a little and enlarged the flavours of strawberry, orange of lemon, and we’re very proud of it,” she noted.

UK Pavilion
One of the stand-out features of the ISM event has been its array of pavilions from around the world. Over the years, these have uncovered a wealth of confectionery gems from all corners of the globe that have pushed the creative boundaries of the sector. This was well and truly reflected in this year’s New Product Showcase, which featured everything from novelties in popcorn and snacks, through to seasonal specials and sustainably sourced chocolate options. Sandra Sullivan, of UK pavilion organisers PS8, enthused that the event offered some decisive opportunities for exhibitors.

While, as previously reported, hurdles including the lingering effects of Brexit, higher ingredients costs and supply chain tests had placed pressure on British manufacturers as much as any other nation, a strong band of nearly 50 UK companies took part this year. “The UK pavilion has a great mix of traditional and new products, and we have eight exhibitors who are here for the first time, and the feedback to date has been great, and we’ve had strong interest from across the world, with visitors from Australia, the US and Japan. “ISM is a must for anyone in that sweets, biscuits and chocolate sector, it’s a steady show and a must on the calendar of UK buyers, and we really encourage people to come out and take a look at it.”

Companies on this year’s British pavilion shared her enthusiasm, including a return for Candy Kittens, which has styled itself as ‘the vegan brand with ‘no nasties’ in its ingredients lists. The company has thrived under a manufacturing agreement with major German confectionery business, Katjes, which is a majority stakeholder.

Having spoken to its co-founder Jamie Laing at a previous edition of the event, he expressed his pride in how it has rapidly developed, with new flavours emerging this year. It has continued to evolve since gaining coveted B-Corp sustainable production status, with new flavours including Eton Mess recently being launched.

Marking director Ana Melvin said: “I’ve been coming to the show for five years and I think this has been our busiest yet. “There’s been lots of activity across the event, and we have had a lot of people coming to admire the stand which has been nice. For this year we are launching quite a few new product lines as well including a new sour chew series, as sour is a real trend within confectionery at the moment,” adding that there had been an encouraging response to its other fresh innovation, known as ‘Treets’ in the form a vegan chocolate coated peanuts, for which the brand has high hopes. Furthermore, another success story for the UK pavilion was Sweetdreams Ltd, which showcased its core Choc Nibbles line that has continued to expand in popularity.

Managing director Matthew Stephenson commented: “It’s really good to be back again after a couple of years, and we have gone hard on getting a bigger stand, and we’re now part of the SugaRich group that has seen us grow our Choc Nibbles brand. “We have missed being here at ISM, as I don’t think there’s a better fair than you can get than this. This year, we have seen a lot more quality in the visitors, who have made detailed enquiries, and this is the place to bring the confectionery world together,” added the managing director, who concluded that the business is continuing to thrive since its recent move into new premises in Ashington, Northumberland. Speaking to many more businesses across the event, there was a sense of renewed hope for 2025, that in spite of considerable tests in the marketplace, the sector remains on track for attaining a resilient performance throughout this year.

Another returning company that delivered the goods this month in Cologne was Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls, which has a significant amount of heritage from its manufacturing base in Wigan, UK.

John Winnard, joint MD explained: “We started coming here in 1991, we were only known in a 50 mile radius of Wigan, but now were are in all corners of the globe, so it’s nice to see our company in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and it’s just a great chance to meet people here. 

“The business was started by my great great uncle in 1898, and many grandfather, and then my dad after him, with myself and my brother joining it in 1990, when my father unfortunately died. But with us being in the company, that gave us chance to move it somewhere else. This year has been very strong, though there’s not been as many visitors as last year.

“However, we met one company from Vietnam, and they’ve done a lot of business with us, which we are hoping will continue,” added the MD, who observed there was a strong sense of community across fellow manufacturers, as well as with visitors from around the world.

Another long-term exhibitor at the show was Simpkins travel sweets, which also reported a decent level of business across the four days of the event. David Nuttall, of the company enthused that the firm has been coming to the event since the 1970s, noting that it had grown hugely since its inception, where it was just two halls, and now ranges across the Koelnmesse site. “Cologne is a magical place, and if you’re in the confectionery trade, this is the place to be,” added David.

On the biscuit side, Campbells was one of several major names to represent Britain at this year’s ISM, with proprietor Jim Campbell noting a memorable few days at the show.

He said: “It’s probably the most important show that we do, and it’s a matter not only meeting all our existing customers from most parts of the world, we’re meeting a variety if companies that are interested in shortbread,” he enthused of the business, which is fast approaching its 200th anniversary of manufacturing.

For its part, Montezuma’s Chocolates, based near Chichester in West Sussex, UK, enjoyed a debut appearance at this year’s ISM show as part of the British pavilion.

Marketing manager Kate Whapshott felt that visitors had bought into its striking, premium chocolate brand’s messaging. She said: “It’s our first trade show as Montezumas, and we’re now part of Bristow’s of Devon, and we’ve never done any export before, and that has given us a lot of opportunities being here. So there’s lots of leads to follow up on.

“It’s been massively important that we have invested in our new product development, our teams and facilities, and we have many flavours here that have attracted interest with the different levels of cocoa in our chocolate. Our absolute black is 100% cocoa and is actually our best seller,” she remarked of its decision to test the water of European distribution.

Similarly enthused by the event, James Purdom, of fellow British brand, Love Cocoa sustainably sourced chocolate, felt that ISM had yielded some pleasing results in the range of contacts the company experienced.

He said: “We have been here a few times in the past, and for us it’s all about trying to build up our export contacts, and this show is great for that, meeting customers from different parts of Europe that we might not operate in yet. So we have made a lot of connections, and we’ll be following up after the show to make it work, but I think it’s been good.”

In terms of its ranges, he said that its major area of focus had been on its Christmas 2025 series of products, as well as its year-round range of premium chocolates. As he noted, the strapline for the brand has been ‘people, planet and passion’ and it has made concerted moves in this direction of a greater range of plastic-free packaging where possible, which has helped the company stand out from the crowd.