By bringing together 110 exhibitors for its first edition, the Local salon, organized by Le Quotidien and ADIR les 8, September 9 and 10, kept its promises by demonstrating the level reached today by local production, and its diversity. A discovery for many : it had been twenty-four years since the local industry had displayed itself collectively.
A local exhibition with an educational purpose, both popular and professional. We owe the initiative of this spotlight on local production to the Quotidien, the first since the ADIR shows of the late 1990s. Partners of the 2023 operation : the ADIR, URCOOPA, the CINOR, the Western Territory of Reunion, the Réunion Region and the CCIR. Apart from the agricultural fairground market which was held outside, the aim of the main exhibiting companies was not to sell, but to show what they do to provide information on their capacity. Reunionese food brands of consumer products, which today constitute an industrial heritage of Reunion, were the best known. But it is necessary to underline the place given to the building and housing sector by the show. The stands of the Nou la Fé umbrella brand, created in 2009, set the tone from the entrance by not only exhibiting food brands. We also noted the strong presence of inter-professional associations in the meat sector : ARIBEV et ARIV, with a very busy DEFI brand stand and the competition for the best butcher which was a highlight of these three days. New at the 2023 show : the importance taken by the environmental sector, and the presence of Reunionese cosmetics artisans, local production sector still embryonic, but promising. CSR and training, linked to production and the business world, completed the line-up of exhibitors. The Cluster Green* took advantage of the event to give Semittel its Efficience label, and there was talk of “fair packaging” with the company Bourbon Packaging, at the forefront of this eco-responsible approach. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chamber of Trades and Crafts, as well as private operators, informed about their training and service offers, like the City of Taste and Flavors, another indicator of the current level of development of local production. Note that a job dating was held as part of the show.
“Our products are our jobs”
The program of conferences and master classes attracted a more professional audience, but not necessarily more aware of the path traveled by local production and the challenges faced by its companies since their birth. Vu, outside the school population, the average age of visitors and exhibitors, namely thirty, it would have been interesting to have a stand on the history of local industry. It's in the same place, in the large hall of Nordev in Saint-Denis, that the ADIR had organized two industry fairs in 1997 and 1999 which remained in the annals. The first was entitled : “The Industrial Meeting is exhibited. » “Our products are our jobs. If we want to create more jobs, we must encourage the consumption of local products”, declared Maurice Cérisola at the time, president of ADIR and major figure in local industry. A quarter of a century later, the current president of ADIR, Patrick Dijoux, essentially repeated the same thing on September 8 in his inaugural speech. Proof that the equation of local production linked to insularity and remoteness has not, she, fundamentally changed.
* Also read our interview with Philippe-Alexandre Rebboah, president of SICR and Cluster Green, on page 20.
