New edition of IbéricoLand at Meat Attraction 2025

Meat Attraction, organised by IFEMA MADRID and The National Meat Processing Industries Association of Spain (ANICE), has become a benchmark for all operators in the meat sector. From 25 to 27 February, the Madrid trade fair centre will be hosting a new edition which will bring numerous new additions and initiatives aimed at operators with the objective of boosting national and international commercial activity in the meat industry. Under this premise, once again this year IbéricoLand is taking place; an exclusive space for companies that produce cured ham products, the jewels in the crown of Spanish meat production and gastronomy. This year, the Inter-professional Association of Iberian Pork (ASICI) will have a greater presence at the fair.

For Andrés Paredes, managing director of ASICI, "IbéricoLand is going to be a platform that will generate greater visibility for companies in the sector that want to have a prominent presence at Meat Attraction. Through this space, which will function as a promotional tool, companies will be able to differentiate themselves and showcase products that are appreciated both within and beyond our borders". Paredes stressed that "it is going to be a specific point of attraction for everything related to the Spanish cured ham sector, which will attract the attention of national and international buyers, both from the retail and specialised charcuterie channels and the HORECA channel, where meetings will also be organised with the media and the different operators attending the Fair".

Led by ASICI, IbéricoLand aims to consolidate itself as a place of reference for all the actors involved in the Spanish cured ham sector within the framework of the trade fair. Buyers attending Meat Attraction will find in IbéricoLand the most prestigious companies and their most interesting new additions, such as sliced products and new formats sliced by knife and in a controlled environment, as well as the most iconic and tasty meats and cuts of Iberian pork.

A committed and robust sector

With a modern, resilient and efficient sector, committed to generating life in rural areas and able to compete with quality, traceability, food safety and animal welfare as guarantees anywhere in the world, it is time to commit to internationalisation to guarantee the future of the industry. 

Despite the difficulties it has faced in recent years, the figures prove the sector’s stability and robustness. According to the data registered in ÍTACA -the digital information system promoted by ASICI that integrates the full traceability of Spanish cured ham production- in 2023 there was a decrease of 1.95% in the slaughtering of Iberian pigs, falling slightly below the average of the last five years. As for the number of pieces identified by quality marks, in a clear upward trend since the approval of the Quality Standard until 2020, in the last three years there has been a certain stability at around seven million Iberian hams. Last year, 6,991,294 pieces were identified, a decrease of 2.3%.

An essential addition to these figures are the pieces identified within the four specific Protected Designation of Origin seals (PDOs) of Ibérico, Dehesa de Extremadura, Guijuelo, Jabugo and Los Pedroches, whose Regulatory Councils are the guarantors of a special link between the territory and the production of hams and ham shoulders recognised with the prized European logo of differentiated quality.

Export Data

Although we do not have ‘official’ export figures for Iberian cured ham products, what we do see is a growing interest and presence of our products on international markets. If we focus on sales, exports of cured hams and shoulders show a growth of more than 108% in value over the last ten years, reaching 649.26 million euros and 59,443.58 tonnes of product, according to ICEX-ESTACOM data. In 2023 alone, sales increased by 9.95%.

If we focus on the last five years, we can see a growth of 24.3% in Germany, 23.7% in France, 25% in Mexico and no less than 104% in China, one of the markets with the greatest potential for the Spanish cured ham sector.

Promoting trade relations

Finally, it should be noted that Meat Attraction will be significantly boosting different actions and formats at this edition to encourage and promote trade relations between all exhibiting companies. These include the powerful International Guest Programme and the attendance of major buyers for the B2Meat workshops, with monographic B2B meetings by product category and buyer profile.

For all these reasons, Meat Attraction and, in particular, the IbéricoLand monographic space, will become very useful tools for tackling the challenge of positioning the Spanish cured ham sector and gaining market share at an international level, an objective on which the sector has been working in recent years.

Meat Attraction is co-organised by IFEMA MADRID and its strategic partner for this sector, ANICE, and has the support of the inter-professional organisations of the livestock-meat chain, ASICI, AVIANZA, INTERCUN, INTEROVIC, INTERPORC and PROVACUNO, as well as other more representative sectoral associations, such as ANAFRIC and AGEMCEX.