#TecnoFidtaConecta: it successfully came to an end the first cycle of virtual meetings of the food processing industry

#TecnoFidtaConecta began with “Panorama”, with two economic segments. In the first one, the journalist and analyst Guillermo "Willy" Kohan talked on “Argentina during and after coronavirus”, in which he anticipated some macro-economic variables to be taken into account and the main challenges that the country faces in the short and medium term. “We start to see better perspectives in rich countries, with job recovery and encouraging signs in USA, Germany, and China. In Argentina, it has been decided to avoid default and speed up the negotiations with the IMF and this was something positive”, he said.

The second economy segment took place on Wednesday and was in charge of the specialist and consultant in international business Marcelo Elizondo who lectured on “The future of strategic markets for Argentina and the challenges and opportunities of foreign trade in the new context”. During his talk, Elizondo stated: “We are a country with little relative participation in international trade (0.31%), but in terms of food exports Argentina implies 2.05% of the total. It is an activity in which we play in the major leagues.” The specialist analyzed the markets in which the country can insert its food and agriculture products and which are the current challenges and demands to export with great success. “In spite of the decrease in world trade caused by the pandemic, the consumption of agricultural and livestock goods remained stable and it even increased. To export more, you need to produce more. In Argentina, we do not have an issue in terms of demand, we have an issue in terms of offer", he said.

The last day of #TecnoFidtaConecta was devoted to innovations and new practices of the food industry in the “Where we go” segment. In this space, the specialists Marcela Leal (Universidad Maimónides) and Mariana Sánchez (INTI) talked with Dévora Dorensztein (Red Alimentaria) on the latest trends of the sector, highlighting the four most important ones:  environmental awareness, with more demanding consumers that request sustainable products; waste recovery thanks to new technologies that enable us to use ingredients that were discarded before; consumers with special needs and specific diets (sportsmen and sportswomen, vegans, intolerances and allergies, among others); and the "fair share", that implies changes in packing technologies and systems. “All these trends and new needs require today more than ever investment, research and innovation in food technology. The pandemic has just speed up processes that were already taking place", said the panelists.