SIFA · 2026

Agoris analysis · updated October 2026

Key facts

• SIFA, the Salon du Froid et de ses Applications (refrigeration and its applications trade show), is the professional trade show for the French refrigeration industry: commercial and industrial refrigeration, the cold chain and air conditioning. It brings together manufacturers, refrigeration installers, end users, design consultancies and OEMs.
• Next edition: the 11th according to the organiser, from Tuesday 24 to Thursday 26 November 2026 at Eurexpo Lyon, hall 7. Open 9am to 6pm on the first two days, closing at 5pm on Thursday.
• Free admission to the trade show and to the conferences, with a badge to be requested online.
• Organiser: Infopro Digital Trade Shows (Infopro Digital group). The trade show brings together the PYC group, which includes La Rpf and Le Monde du Surgelé (the exhibitor sales contact is attached to it), and Infopro Digital.
• Annual frequency, alternating: Paris in odd-numbered years, Lyon in even-numbered years. The 2025 edition was held at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.
• Orders of magnitude shown by the organiser: more than 130 exhibitors, more than 4,000 participants, more than 30 conferences and workshops (the published conference programme lists ten sessions on 24 and 25 November, the announced balance being exhibitor workshops, still being put together). On 10 October 2026, the official 2026 exhibitor list had 119 entries.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

The offer is split into broad families: components and systems for refrigeration equipment (compressors, heat exchangers, condensing units, controls, fans, insulation); refrigerants and chemical compounds, both halogenated and "natural", with leak detection and fluid handling; supermarket and food service equipment (cold rooms, display cabinets, ice machines, blast chillers); air conditioning, heat pumps and air handling; system optimisation (supervision, traceability, heat recovery, software); accessories, tools and PPE; and finally services: consulting, training, financing, insurance, transport.

The 2026 directory mixes manufacturers, distributors, certification bodies, training centres, associations and specialist media. This is a trade show for specialists: the offer is aimed first and foremost at refrigeration engineers and operators of refrigeration installations.

Notable exhibitors

The 2026 exhibitor list is published on the official website. It includes major names in compression and components (Bitzer, Copeland, Danfoss, Frascold, Officine Mario Dorin, Mayekawa), heat exchangers and ventilation (LU-VE Group, ebm-papst, Ziehl-Abegg), manufacturers of display cabinets and equipment (Epta Group, Hoshizaki, Rivacold, AHT Cooling Systems), refrigerants and their distribution (Climalife, Gazechim Froid, Westfalen), as well as controls (Eliwell, Dixell, Belimo), supervision (Matelex) and maintenance management software (Praxedo). Eurovent Certita Certification, Trane France, Panasonic and KSB are also on the list.

Several company forms signal foreign companies (S.p.A., S.L., GmbH, AB, Anonim Sirketi), and the directory also includes the Association tunisienne de réfrigération et de climatisation as well as ISIB Turkish HVAC-R.

Visitor quality

The "Qui visite le SIFA ?" (Who visits SIFA?) page describes two profiles: refrigeration integrators, installers and design consultancies, who specify the solutions; and end users, from large-scale retail, food processing, catering, healthcare, industry, data centres, logistics or local authorities. The organiser names installers such as Axima Réfrigération, Clauger or Dalkia Froid, retail chains such as Carrefour, Lidl or Picard, contract catering players such as Elior or Sodexo, and operators such as EDF or STEF, without saying which edition this list relates to.

The only detailed review available is that of the 2022 edition, in Lyon: 3,800 participants, of which 18% international, and 125 exhibitors. Installers made up 36% of the visitors, ahead of manufacturers, suppliers and OEMs (19%), end users from industry, large-scale retail and food service (19%), trading and distribution (11%), design consultancies (7%) and training (6%). No OJS certification is published.

Events & community

Conference programme

The 2026 programme is built by a steering committee that brings together the SNEFCCA, the AFCE (Alliance Froid Climatisation Environnement), Cryoforma, Enthalpie Conseils & Investissement, the IFFI of the Cnam, La Rpf and La Cuisine Pro, as well as Infopro Digital. The conferences, free and with no pre-registration, take place in two rooms, Bocuse and Saint-Exupéry, on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 November.

The common thread is regulatory: four sessions are devoted to the F-Gas III regulation and how it fits with the French environment code, two to fluid availability, and two to technician certification and training. The other topics cover heat pumps as a market for refrigeration engineers, summer comfort with air-to-air heat pumps, adapting installations to high temperatures, the cybersecurity of connected installations, supervision from the pressure switch to artificial intelligence, and AI as an everyday tool for the refrigeration engineer.

Exhibitor workshops, product and solution demonstrations, complete the offer; their programme was announced as being put together at the time of writing.

Questions pour un frigoriste

The quiz "Questions pour un frigoriste" (Questions for a refrigeration engineer) returns in 2026 for its 3rd edition, in partnership with Dérick et le monde du froid. Technicians, apprentices, project managers and experts compete on refrigeration, electrics, controls, fluids or troubleshooting, in the Bocuse room: four sessions are scheduled between 24 and 26 November.

Community & networks

The Partners page shows, among others, the logos of La Rpf, LSA, the AFF (Association française du froid), the SNEFCCA, La Cuisine Pro and Le Monde du Surgelé. The trade show thus draws on the two editorial worlds it says it brings together: the technical refrigeration press of the PYC group and the retail and industry press of Infopro Digital.

The website also publishes a "Actualités" (News) section made up of interviews and expert videos, and a "Les défis de la filière" (The industry's challenges) page that sets out six issues, for the user and for the installer, and points to the matching conferences for several of them.

On site: what to know

The trade show occupies hall 7 of Eurexpo Lyon, boulevard de l'Europe in Chassieu. Opening hours are 9am to 6pm on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 November, and 9am to 5pm on Thursday 26 November. A cloakroom is available at the entrance.

By public transport, the organiser allows 30 minutes from central Lyon (metro line D to Grange Blanche, then tram T5), 45 minutes from Part-Dieu station and 40 minutes from Perrache (tram T2 then T5). By car, access is via the West gate from Lyon (A43), the North gate from Paris and Geneva (A46, exit 8) and the South gate from Chambéry and Grenoble (A46, exit 10). The website points to several car-sharing platforms.

Journalists request accreditation from the marketing and communications department of Infopro Digital, whose contact is given in the trade show's FAQ.

How much does it cost to exhibit?

Two packages are offered. The bare stand includes only the floor marking, with no carpet, and daily cleaning; the package can no longer be changed 60 days before the trade show. The fully equipped stand includes floor space, structure, partitions, carpet, signage, daily cleaning, one spotlight rail per 9 m² and a 1.5 kW power supply. Prices are not published: they are obtained by requesting a quote on the "Devenir exposant" (Become an exhibitor) page.

Point to note as of today: the 2026 general terms of sale provide that a cancellation more than 60 days before opening is invoiced at 50% of the order, and less than 61 days before, in full. An exhibitor booking from October 2026 therefore commits to the full amount.

Preparing your visit

For the exhibitor

• Request the quote without delay: once opening is less than 61 days away, any booking falls under the full-invoicing clause in case of cancellation.
• Choose the package knowingly: the bare stand does not include carpet and is frozen 60 days before opening.
• Tie your pitch to the programme topics, F-Gas III, A2L and A3 refrigerants, energy savings certificates (CEE), supervision: these are the issues the organiser puts forward for installers and end users.
• Offer an exhibitor workshop: the programme was still being put together at the time of writing.
• Think about end users: large-scale retail, food processing, healthcare and data centres are part of the targeted visitors.

For the decision-maker visiting

• Request your free badge online before coming.
• Concentrate your visit on Tuesday or Wednesday: all the conferences take place on these two days.
• Attend at least one F-Gas III session: they are run twice, which leaves two slots for each topic.
• Talk on site with the SNEFCCA and the AFCE about regulatory questions, as the organiser suggests.

CSR policy & initiatives

The trade show publishes an "Engagements RSE" (CSR commitments) page structured in three parts. On the environment: separate collection of cardboard and wood during set-up and dismantling, sorting bins for visitors, partitions and furniture reused from one year to the next, partition wood from FSC or PEFC certified suppliers, LED lighting on the equipped stands and common areas, eco-friendly cleaning products, invitations sent mostly by e-mail only, collection of lanyards and badges on exit. On-site catering relies on glass and porcelain tableware in the restaurants, bio-based disposable tableware at the points of sale, sorting of bio-waste and anti-waste partnerships with local associations.

On the social side, the page refers to the actions of the Infopro Digital group, notably its commitment to the association Nos Quartiers ont du Talent. It also shows a continuous improvement approach, with no quantified indicator or published carbon footprint, and without an ISO 20121 certification specific to the trade show. The venue, Eurexpo Lyon, operated by the GL events group, is ISO 20121 certified according to GL events, a certification that applies to the venue and not to the trade show.

The content of the trade show goes in the same direction: the phase-out of high-global-warming HFCs and adaptation to climate change are on the conference programme, and energy efficiency is one of the issues put forward by the organiser.

How the trade show has evolved

Trajectory analysis

SIFA has kept a stable size since 2022: around 130 exhibitors and 3,700 to 4,000 participants, whichever the city. The alternation between Paris and Lyon aims, according to the organiser, to bring together as many refrigeration professionals as possible, and the differences in attendance between Paris and Lyon editions remain small in the available figures.

What changes is the agenda. In 2022, the main theme was energy efficiency and the decarbonisation of installations, and the trade show presented the Grands Prix du Froid at a dedicated evening. In 2026, the programme puts the implementation of the F-Gas III regulation and its transposition order of 21 November 2025 first, with a training and technician certification dimension that responds to the shortage of qualified labour described by the organiser. The sessions on the cybersecurity of connected installations and on artificial intelligence, and the place given to data centres among end users, show a trade show attentive to the widening uses of refrigeration beyond food.

For a supplier, the appeal lies in concentration: SIFA presents itself as a unique professional trade show dedicated to refrigeration and as the largest gathering of the sector in France, and installers were the leading visitor profile in the last detailed review. The limit is symmetrical: the size remains that of an industry trade show, and the attendance figures are not subject to any published certification and are not published after every edition (no 2023, 2024 or 2025 review found on the official website). The 2027 edition, in line with the alternation, should be held in Paris; its dates had not been announced at the time of writing.

All data that does not mention its source comes from the organiser's website.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (expo-sifa.com).