Seafood buyers and sellers from across the globe poured into the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center in Wanchai, Hong Kong, on Tuesday to kick off the inaugural Asian Seafood Exposition.
The three-day event features 101 exhibiting companies and organizations from 21 countries, including six country and regional pavilions — Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Australia and two U.S. pavilions; visitors from 82 countries are due to attend.
“The high levels of the Asian market’s international seafood consumption and the ease of trade in and out of Hong Kong has provided a huge opportunity for those companies who are selling seafood to have access to such a lucrative and growing market,” said Mary Larkin, who oversees Diversified Business Communications’ global seafood events, including the European Seafood Exposition and International Boston Seafood Show, as group VP. (The Portland, Maine, company also publishes SeafoodSource.com and SeaFood Business magazine.)
“The Asian Seafood Exposition is already filling a gap in the industry, offering fresh seafood, packaged seafood, processed seafood, ready-made products and industry-related services to buyers from Asian retail and foodservice markets,” added Larkin.
Hong Kong is home to more than 7 million people and imported about USD 2.1 billion of seafood in 2008.
The Asian Seafood Exposition runs through Thursday alongside Restaurant & Bar Hong Kong 2010, a regional fine-dining and bar trade show that’s been in operation for eight years.
All Supply & Trade stories >