Due to a technical problem for almost 2 weeks I could not write my blog. Sorry for this.

At the end of  January I was away for visiting ISM (Internationale Sussware Messe) in Cologne, the greatest show of sweet industry. Let me brief you about this year's ISM.

The most important thing maybe is the fact that many of the major  confectionery companies were not present in ISM! Mars/Wrigley, Cadbury, Nestlé, Perfetti Van Melle, Haribo were all missing. This ofcourse brings the question; does it really worth to participate in ISM every year?  In fact there are discussions if the show should be biannual. There were 1503 suppliers from 66 countries....Several countries including USA Turkey, UK, Belgium, Mexico, Italy had also special country sections where their  participants  exibited in uniform booths. This year  a "CEO Luncheon" were organized where Dr. Herman Bühlbecker of Lamberz and Mr. Jürgen Steinmann from Barry Callebaut were the speakers.  They  expressed their hopes for 2010 to be a good year despite the fact that the prices in confectionery will keep rising due to raw material price increases.

There were no significant product novelties as far as I can see. Like last year this year also the most common products were those with toys and those of jellies and weingums.