South Africa at SIAL Paris 2026

SIAL Paris serves as a global meeting point for the food industry, bringing together producers, distributors, retailers, restaurateurs, and importers and exporters from across the world. The event provides an important platform for South African companies to showcase their products, connect with international buyers, explore new business opportunities, and gain insights into emerging developments in the global food sector.

The South African Country Pavilion organised and funded by SIPPO’s strategic BSO partner, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), will feature 27 South African export companies. With support from partner BSOs, Wesgro and Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal (TIKZN), the pavilion will showcase a diverse range of South African food products, including canned frozen fruit and vegetables, nuts, dried fruit, tea and botanicals, beverages, sauces, confectionery, and specialty salts.

The BSOs and their companies will play an important role in representing South Africa’s food industry at the event by identifying potential business contacts and strengthening direct links with European buyers. These engagements are intended to create opportunities for future business partnerships and support South African exporters in expanding their presence in international markets.

The trade fair will also create opportunities for knowledge exchange and collaboration with BSOs from other SIPPO partner countries Morrocco, Tunisia, Ukraine, and Peru. Such exchanges provide a platform to share experiences, explore common challenges and identify approaches that can strengthen export promotion and support the internationalisation of companies.

With support from SIPPO South Africa, the BSOs began the preparation process for SIAL Paris in collaboration with an international consultant, conducting research on the trade fair profile and the European market profile, including market structure, trends, opportunities, and threats for South African exporters. Based on this research, the dtic in collaboration with Wesgro and TIKZN initiated preparation workshops to strengthen the capacity of BSOs and their member companies in identifying and engaging with potential international buyers. The strategy for SIAL 2026 focuses on buyer profiling using tools such as the SIAL exhibitor database, filtering companies according to previously established product clusters, and conducting individual research to identify relevant buyer contacts. In addition, SIPPO supports BSOs in identifying opportunities to connect South African exporters with international buyers through dedicated business matchmaking events that facilitate direct engagement between buyers and food producers.

South Africa is excited to return to SIAL in Paris this year. The country has strengthened its presence in the sector through development of a food industry ecosystem and will engage and expand connections with key stakeholders in the international network at SIAL Paris, to consolidate its position as a supplier of quality food ingredients for this industry.