One of the world’s leading trade fairs for the baking and confectionery industry will take place in Düsseldorf from 18 to 22 May 2025. There is a strong response from the baking sector: at this stage, 95 per cent of the available space has already been booked and over 700 exhibitors from 43 countries have registered. Exhibitor registration is still open and ticket sales for visitors will start in December 2024. The iba team is providing first insights into the highlights that trade fair participants can look forward to.
This time, two brand-new highlights will be celebrating their premiere at iba 2025.
Firstly, the iba.FOOD TRENDS AREA, where the concept is even spread across the entire Hall 15. Exhibitors will present their food trends at various stands and contact points, from raw materials and snack innovations to machines for production. Visitors will discover the latest developments in food culture and suitable products, ingredients and concepts. The new highlight is rounded off by the iba.STAGE. This stage is part of the iba.FOOD TRENDS AREA – here, trade fair participants can listen to presentations on food trends in the mornings; in the afternoons, experts will give talks on all other focus topics. Networking areas and a coffee bar are available for socialising.
On the other hand, a completely new competition promises to be another magnet for visitors. In addition to the popular world-class competitions such as ‘The iba.UIBC.Cup of Bakers’ and ‘The iba.UIBC.Cup of Confectioners’, the ‘World Championship of Bread Sommeliers’ will now be held at iba for the first time.
The background to this is the cooperation with the Akademie Deutsches Bäckerhandwerk Weinheim (German National Bakers Academy in Weinheim) and its advanced training programme for bread sommeliers. Not only national courses were offered there, but also an international course for ‘Certified Bread Sommeliers’ for the first time in autumn 2023. Participants from countries including the USA, Norway, Brazil, Ireland, Aruba (Caribbean) and New Zealand completed the course in September 2024. A total of 267 bread sommeliers from 14 countries have already been trained in Weinheim. The graduates can compete in the preliminary round, with the grand finale awaiting them all at the ‘World Championship of bread sommeliers’ at iba in May 2025.
Programme highlights: Innovations, bakery tours, baking pretzels
At the iba.ACADEMY, visitors can take part in seminars and learn how to make the traditional German pretzel. There will be a certificate at the end, tickets will be available at the beginning of 2025 on the iba website. The iba.FORUM is all about artisan bakery: lectures, award ceremonies and competitions will take place here. It’s also show time in the action areas: national and international start-ups will present their pitches and innovative products in the iba.START UP AREA. The iba.DIGITALISATION AREA shows the bakery of the future: here visitors can touch digitalisation and test new possibilities. In cooperation with the Zentralfachschule der Deutschen Süßwarenwirtschaft e.V. (College of the German Confectionery Industry) the iba.CONFECTIONARY TEC AREA will showcase new technical solutions that make it possible to enhance products for sale, e.g. toppings for baked goods. In addition, guided bakery tours will be offered, this time in Düsseldorf.
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Hannah Larvin
Editor, International Confectionery
Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823 920
Email: editor@in-confectionery.com
