Fruit Attraction returns to the IFEMA MADRID Trade Fair Centre from 6 to 8 October 2026 for its 18th edition, the trade only meeting point for the global fresh fruit and vegetable value chain. The fair is organised by IFEMA MADRID together with FEPEX, the Spanish federation of associations of producers and exporters of fruit, vegetables, flowers and live plants.
The 2026 edition occupies ten halls at the Madrid venue, numbers 3 to 10, 12 and 14. The organiser's figures across two separate releases describe a floor of more than 2,400 participating companies over more than 78,000 square metres of contracted exhibition space in the launch announcement, rising to more than 2,500 companies across more than 162,000 square metres of total occupied surface in a later sales update, some 2,000 square metres more than the 2025 edition. Both releases project more than 121,000 trade visitors. Opening hours run from 09:30 to 19:00, with the final day closing at 16:00.
The floor is divided into four specialised areas: Fresh Produce, Auxiliary Industry, Fresh Food Logistics, and Innova and Tech. That structure sets the attendee mix, which runs from growers, packers, cooperatives and exporters through to retail category buyers, wholesalers, cold chain and logistics operators, packaging and machinery suppliers, and agricultural technology vendors.
The commercial engine of the fair is the International Buyers Programme, run with the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ICEX and FEPEX, which brings in 700 large buyers, retail purchasing managers, importers and wholesalers from more than 50 countries. For a category where annual supply contracts are negotiated in a narrow window, that concentration of purchasing authority in three days is the reason senior commercial leadership attends in person.
Two country positions shape this year's programme. China and the United Arab Emirates are the designated Guest Importing Countries, and the potato is the star product of the edition. Every Spanish autonomous community with fruit and vegetable production is represented. New participating countries this year include Armenia, Australia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Ireland, the British Virgin Islands, Japan, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Tunisia.
Maria Jose Sanchez, trade fair director of Fruit Attraction at IFEMA MADRID, reported the sales position to the event's Organising Committee at its meeting of 23 July 2026.
The congress programme sits alongside the exhibition rather than inside it. The 1st International Potato Symposium runs on 5 October, the day before the fair opens. The BioFruit Congress returns in its 8th edition, joined by an Avocado Congress and the Organic Tour. The Factoria Chef gastronomic showcase, the Innovation Hub Awards and the Best Stand Awards complete the programme. The organiser's strapline for the edition is that this is where the essence of the industry connects with the world.
For executives in the sector the practical value is less the exhibition than the buyer programme and the country pavilions, which together function as the annual reset of trading relationships across the northern hemisphere season.
