Seafood Expo Asia will return to Hong Kong 6 to 8 September, offering buyers and suppliers of seafood a trade event focusing on the lucrative Asia Pacific market, show producer Diversified Communications announced in a press release on Tuesday, 21 June.
More than 240 seafood suppliers from at least 30 countries will attend this year’s Seafood Expo Asia, which is the seventh annual edition of the event, Diversified (which also owns SeafoodSource) said in its release. In addition, this year’s Seafood Expo Asia will take place in conjunction with Restaurant & Bar Hong Kong, a fine dining and beverage exhibition.
In addition to networking and deal-making opportunities, expo attendees will have access to presentations by seafood experts who will offer business advice, support and insight during the three-day event. The event will also feature a presentation stage that will play host to culinary demonstrations, master classes, networking events and educational seminars covering issues and trends affecting the industry.
“Asia has become increasingly important to the global seafood market as with the growth of the region’s middle class population, consumers in this income bracket are able to afford higher value goods and products, one of them being premium fish and shellfish,” Diversified Communication’s Seafood Group Vice President Liz Plizga said. “Improving living standards and rising incomes, coupled with an already well established dining out culture, are driving market expansion as individuals become more conscious of taste and quality particularly in China and South East Asia, where economic growth is positively impacting seafood imports making these countries especially attractive to producers and exporters of premium produce.”
The outlook for Asia’s seafood industry will be a central theme at this year’s event, Plizga said. The World Bank predicts that Asian countries will account for around 70 percent of global fish consumption by 2030 and a 2014 Global Industry Analysts report suggests that in terms of demand, the Asia Pacific is not only the largest and fastest growing market in the world, but is projected to increase at an average compound growth rate of 5 percent between now and 2020, Diversified said in its release.
“With the region’s palate for premium seafood evolving, Asia is expected to dominate global aquaculture trade and [seafood] import,” the press release said. “Growth is being driven by a rising middle class population that according to 2013 data from Ernst & Young and SKOLKOVO stands at around 525 million people but which over the next 20 years could potentially expand to more than 3 billion.”
To learn more about opportunities in the Asian market, SeafoodSource is hosting a free webinar on Thursday, 23 June titled, “Asia rising: Discovering seafood trends and opportunities beyond the headlines.” The webinar will feature SeafoodSource contributing editors Mark Godfrey, who reports from Beijing, China and Chris Loew, who reports from Osaka, Japan. Godfrey and Loew will analyze the latest news and trends from Asia and offer predictions for the future of the continent’s seafood industry.
