Anuga Select South Africa 2027

How it compares

Hostex in Johannesburg is the closer fit for professional kitchens, coffee businesses and hospitality operations. Its SA Chefs Village, Coffee Championships and Bidfood Industry Hub put working chefs and service businesses at the center of the program. Cape Town covers those channels too, but grocery products, food ingredients and import distribution carry more weight in its overall proposition.

Food & Beverage West Africa in Lagos offers a different route to market. The 2026 show had more than 320 exhibitors and 5,600 attendees, with a hosted-buyer program and links to the region's open markets. It is the more direct choice for a supplier seeking Nigerian importers, wholesalers and West African distribution. Cape Town suits a brief built around South African retail and hospitality networks, with wider African trade alongside them.

Anuga in Cologne is the broader global comparison, with 8,015 exhibitors in 2025 and buyers from across the world. It is a better trip when the task is comparing international supplier portfolios or developing export partnerships across several regions. Africa Food Show's successor keeps the Anuga connection but concentrates the buying conversation on African markets. The co-located hotel expo adds hotel operations and equipment purchasing to food and beverage sourcing.

Africa Food Show is the right sourcing trip for suppliers and buyers who need South African retail, food manufacturing and hospitality in the same conversation.

Who exhibits

The 2026 mix brought technical ingredients together with finished products. Synercore covered formulation, contract blending and laboratory services; Cape Food Ingredients offered dairy, beverage and bakery development, including sugar reduction. Dofreeze LLC brought snacks, protein bars, cookies and confectionery from the UAE. Those examples explain the show's range: a manufacturer reformulating a product and a distributor looking for a packaged line could both find relevant suppliers. The national pavilions extended that comparison beyond South African businesses.

This year's list is on its way. A HallBrief brief ranks every exhibitor against your goals and finds who to meet at each. Get a brief

Anuga Select South Africa 2027

The 2027 show becomes Anuga Select South Africa, bringing the Cape Town platform into Koelnmesse's international food trade network. It retains the partnership with dmg events and runs alongside Hotel & Hospitality Expo Africa. The product scope stretches from delicatessen, dairy, meat and frozen foods to ingredients, packaging, retail technology and bulk catering. That keeps both grocery sourcing and hospitality purchasing in view, while giving South African producers a local meeting point with international suppliers and buyers.

• Combine food sourcing with Hotel & Hospitality Expo Africa when your brief also covers hotel operations, catering equipment or hospitality technology; the two shows share the Cape Town venue.
• For African product development, prioritize ingredient and formulation suppliers alongside finished-food brands. The previous show paired Synercore's blending and laboratory services with Cape Food Ingredients' work on sugar reduction and local taste preferences.