On October 26, the latest edition of Iba closed in Munich, demonstrating once again that it is one of the largest fairs worldwide for the baking industry.

During the five days that the fair lasted, 1,073 exhibitors from 46 countries showed their diversity of products in ten pavilions, and 57,000 visitors from 150 countries walked the halls to discover the latest trends.

This year, Iba focused on recruiting young talents, artisan baking, as well as digitalization. Speaking of championships, one of the highlights was The iba.UIBC Cup of Bakers around the theme “The Animal World”, which was resumed after a five-year break and where bakers from 12 countries faced each other off: Peru, Japan, France , China, Greece, Germany, Korea, Iceland, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Italy. The gold medal was won by the Chinese team, consisting of Lin Yeqiang and Feng Yingjie. In second place were Hwang Seokyong and Han Seokwang from South Korea, and in third place were Nicole and Patrick Mittmann from Germany.

Another of the most anticipated competitions, The iba.UIBC.Cup of Confectioners, challenged participants to create sweet works of art also based on the theme “The Animal World”. The four participating countries (Taiwan, Germany, Korea, and Norway) had to create a showpiece, an iced cake, three different types of petit fours, pralines, sculpted figures, and theme-based sweet baked goods. Yeon Sunheum and Han Doyoung, from South Korea, won the title. Second place went to Victoria Gravdal and Xiao Juan Peng from Norway, and third place went to Min-Yu Teng and Peng-Yi Lin from Taiwan.

The new iba.Start Up Area space caught the attention of visitors as a novelty this edition. Innovations were unveiled by 24 startups, but Wecarry was the crowd favorite and the winner of the new iba.Start Up Award. The company presented a sustainable and reusable alternative to the paper bread bag.