Record crowds at Brussels show

THE world’s largest seafood exhibition, held in Brussels in April, attracted record crowds this year, with visitor numbers reaching more than 28,500, the show organisers revealed last month.

Seafood Expo Global featured the stands of 1,859 exhibiting companies from 79 countries, including 73 national and regional pavilions.

Among the first time exhibitors were representations from Latvia, Myanmar, Poland, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Cyprus and Romania. In total, exhibits covered 38,338sq m of space.

‘The continued growth of this event shows the value of face-to-face meetings for buyers and suppliers doing business in the global seafood industry,’ said Wynter Courmont, event director for the show’s organisers, Diversified Communications.

Buyers from restaurants, supermarkets, hotels, catering services, importers, distributors and seafood markets attended the exhibition in the Belgian capital. A record 455 high-volume buyers participated in this year’s ‘Key Buyer’ programme.

‘It’s an event 100 per cent dedicated to fish and seafood and it brings the whole sector together once a year,’ said a category manager from Ahold in the Netherlands.

Next year’s Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global will be held on April 24-26 at the Brussels Expo.