International confectionery fair
The International Confectionery Fair (international name: ISM Cologne) is the world's largest trade fair for confectionery and snacks . It has been held annually in Cologne at the end of January / beginning of February since 1971 . The organizer is Koelnmesse GmbH. The notional sponsor is the International Confectionery Fair (AISM), which is made up of associations from the confectionery industry and the food trade ( Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry , Sweets Global Network , Main Association of German Retailers , Association of German Food Wholesalers , Central Association of Commercial Associations )
In 2014 the number of visitors was around 35,000, of which around 23,000 came from abroad. Around 1500 exhibitors from 66 countries were represented, more than 1200 of them from abroad.
ProSweets Cologne , a trade fair for suppliers to the confectionery and snack industry , which was founded in 2006, has been taking place at the same time as ISM since 2009.
Since 2014, the world's largest and most important confectionery fair has been giving the ISM Award to outstanding entrepreneurs for their extraordinary services to the confectionery and snack industry through the International Confectionery Fair working group and the Cologne Fair . Previous winners have been Hermann Goelitz Rowland (2014), Felix Richterich (2015), James N. Walker (2016), Gota Morinaga (2017), Dylan Lauren (2018) and Hermann Bühlbecker (2019).