Great Expo-tations

What’s are this year’s highlights?

This year’s edition will feature new exhibiting countries – including Barbados, Seychelles, Tanzania and Uganda – and new national pavilions from Finland, Russia, Scotland and Uruguay.

Buyers will find a variety of new seafood products, new technologies and trends as well as processing services. Ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook seafood is a notable trend in 2016. In addition, there’s also the trend to incorporate seafood into the diet as a healthy protein option. Consumers are more conscious about healthy eating habits and the benefits of eating fish as part of their diet.

New this year is the Seafood Excellence Global Awards Competition, which replaces the Seafood Prix d’Elite, which honoured companies with seafood products that were introduced to the European market within a period of 18 months. The new Seafood Excellence Global awards competition features and recognizes the best seafood products that are represented at the exposition, regardless of their market introduction date. This year, more than 70 applications and 39 finalists representing 15 countries were selected to be part of this competition. Two grand prizes will be awarded for the Best Retail Product and the Best Hotel/Restaurant/Catering (HORECA) Product.

Five special awards will be also be presented – for innovation, convenience, health & nutrition, retail packaging and seafood product line. The announcement of the winners will take place on Tuesday 26 April from 18:00 to 20:00 in Auditorium 2000. All finalists and winners will be showcased at the Stand P 4619-4635 in the Patio throughout the three-day event. You can find the list of all the products entered for the competition on http://www.seafoodexpo.com/global/seafood-excellence-global-awards-3/

How has the Brussels seafood expo become the world’s largest seafood fair?

Seafood Expo Global was launched in April 1993 as a result of requests from European customers who attended our exposition in Boston (Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America) and who wanted to have a seafood specific event in Europe.

Seafood Processing Global was launched 18 years ago in response to the growing number of attendees in the equipment, technology and services sector who wanted an exposition hall devoted exclusively to the seafood processing industry. Products and services exhibited included transportation and logistics services, processing equipment, packaging supplies and equipment, refrigeration and freezing equipment and supplies as well as products used in quality assurance.

The exposition has grown throughout the years to become the most important global event for the seafood industry. Last year’s event was the largest Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global to date and exhibit space expanded into a new hall in response to companies’ growing demand to participate in the three-day event.

How many companies are coming this year?

This year’s exposition will host more than 1,650 exhibiting companies from 76 countries, including 72 national and regional pavilions, spanning over 35,800m² of sold exhibits. This is an impressive number considering the events Brussels went through. This edition continues to be the world’s most important event for the seafood industry.

How many people do you expect?

Last year, the event attracted more than 26,000 seafood professionals. Even after the incidents in Brussels, registration of visitors has been very active. Visitors from all over the world are registering to attend, from China, France, Germany, and Poland, to Italy, Spain and the US, to name a few. We have had buyers from more than 100 countries register to attend the event since March 22nd.

When it comes to security what kind of measures do the event planners take to ensure that the safety of the public and the seafood companies is taken care of?

Our primary goal is the safety of our customers (visitors and exhibitors) while maintaining a pleasant and valuable customer experience. We have a comprehensive security plan in place which includes everything from metal detection, scanning with wands, body pat downs, bag checks at the perimeter of the Brussels Expo, detection dogs and possible ID checks. Furthermore, the city has confirmed that there will be more police and military presence throughout the city including the metro, airport and the city centre. We recommend that people limit bags and encourage them to allow for extra time to go through the security checks. A shuttle reminiscent of the service in place for the strike last year will be provided during the exposition days to and from six major points in the city centre and the Exposition Centre, to provide another transportation option. All shuttle stops will have security screening as well. Additional security measures are in place but cannot be divulged to the public for everyone’s safety.

Several big Norwegian companies (Salmar, Lerøy, Cermaq) have said they are cancelling their trip due to concerns for the safety for their employees. How many in total have cancelled?

Overall, our exhibitor cancellation represents only 5% of the total exhibit space, which means we have retained 95%, of a very large exposition. Before March 22nd, we had been tracking well ahead of 2015 and were prepared to break new records. A lot of attention has been focused on specific companies who have pulled out from regions like Norway, but it is important to note that more than 80 companies from Norway have decided to exhibit at this year’s exposition...and some of the cancelled companies are opting to still send representatives to the event.