EUROPEAN SEAFOOD EXPOSITION: CONTINUING TO GROW IN IMPORTANCE

From Tuesday 24th April to Thursday 26th April 2007, the 15th European Seafood Exposition was held in Brussels, Belgium. Once again, the event proved to be highly successful and further established itself as the most important annual event for the worldwide seafood industry. It provided many opportunities for both exhibitors and visitors to make new contacts and learn more about the many aspects of the industry and feedback from those attending proved to be very positive.

Over the three day period, the European Seafood Exposition and the parallel running Seafood Processing Europe tradeshow were attended by a total of 23.833 people. And as in previous years, the event saw most seafood retailers purchasing their supply of fish for the next year, underlying the clear commercial benefits of both exhibiting and visiting. This is a highly impressive fact given that purchasing for one whole year can be achieved in the space of just three days.

Furthermore, both events proved to cover even more of the world than before, with an increasing number of countries/regions being represented through their own individual pavilions.

The European Seafood Exposition has again confirmed its position as the most effective meeting point for those purchasing fish and seafood products with more than 1.400 exhibitors presenting their goods at the event. Similarly, Seafood Processing Europe is continuing to grow in importance - an event that is aimed at professionals involved in either the buying or processing of fish. The 2007 Seafood Processing Europe event attracted almost 200 exhibitors.

Overall, the two events together saw exhibitors from 87 separate countries and a total of visitors from 144 different countries converging on Brussels to share their ideas, insights and products - something very important in such a continually changing industry.

The future for the seafood industry looks very positive. Fish is increasingly being promoted as a necessary element of a good diet and the UK's Food Standard Agency (FSA) recommend in their literature that people should be eating at least two portions of fish per week, including one portion of oily fish. The benefits of both fish and shellfish are their richness in protein and minerals, whereas oily fish is rich in omega 3 fatty acids. It is likely that with increased awareness, the consumption of fish is likely to similarly increase.

Consequently, it is no surprise that this event has experienced continued success and looks to be further building in terms of its importance.

The 2007 European Seafood Exposition and Seafood Processing Europe resulted in the 1.631 exhibiting companies covering approximately 33.000 net square meters. This in turn meant that there was literally no space left for the organisers to sell, a clear indication of the success and importance of the two events.

Next year's European Seafood Exposition and Seafood Processing Europe are scheduled to again be held in Brussels and will run from 22 to 24 April 2008. For further information, please refer to http://www.euroseafood.com/ or http://www.europrocessing.com/.