The 27th edition of Seafood Expo Global and the 21st edition of Seafood Processing Global recently concluded. According to the organizers, this was the most successful edition in the expo’s history. The event, produced by Diversified Communications, took place from May 7-9 in Brussels, Belgium at the Brussels Expo.
The annual seafood event brought in a total of 29,288 buyers and suppliers from around the globe and across the industry. This year’s exposition broke records with 2,020 exhibiting companies – an increase of 74 companies compared to 2018 – coming from 89 countries to present their newest seafood products, services, processing, and packaging equipment.
The event covered 40,625 net square meters of exhibit space, surpassing 2018’s record by 1,303 square meters and welcomed new exhibiting countries Angola, Fiji, Greenland, Guyana, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Solomon Islands, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Uganda. 74 national and regional pavilions were present, including new regional pavilions from South Korea and Taiwan.
“The event’s success continues to prove the importance of these three days of business and networking opportunities for the global seafood industry,” said Liz Plizga, group vice-president for Diversified Communications. “We thrive on bringing the seafood community together and providing them with a platform that contributes to their business goals,” Plizga continued.
Visitors in attendance this year came from 155 countries and included seafood buyers from restaurants, supermarkets, hotels, catering services, importers, distributors, seafood markets, as well as equipment and packaging buyers, and more. Among the attendees, 512 high-volume buyers from retail, foodservices and distribution took part in the event’s Key Buyer program.
Awards were presented for the best seafood products represented at the exposition during the Seafood Excellence Global awards reception. On 7 May, the company Viciunai Group of Belgium won the Best Retail Product category with its Surimi Noodles Wok Style. Kingfish Zeeland BV of the Netherlands won the grand prize for Best HORECA (hotel/restaurant/catering) Product for its Dutch Yellowtail.
Four special Seafood Excellence Global awards were also given. For example, Golden Fresh Sdn Bhd of Malaysia won the special prize for Convenience for its Prawn in Hor Mok Thai Coconut Sauce. The Retail Packaging special prize was given to St James Smokehouse (Scotland) Ltd. of the United Kingdom. Surimi Noodles Wok Style from Viciunai Group was also awarded the Seafood Excellence Global special award for Innovation.
In the competition, a panel of industry experts in seafood products judged 37 finalists representing 12 countries on their taste, originality, practicality, innovation, market potential and nutritional aspects.
The next Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global will take place 21-23 April 2020 at the Brussels Expo center in the Belgian capital.
