Buyers and sellers from around the globe descend upon Brussels, Belgium, this week to meet and do business at the 16th annual European Seafood Exposition and Seafood Processing Europe.
The world's largest seafood trade show runs tomorrow through Thursday at the Brussels Exhibition Grounds (Parc des Expositions de Bruxelles).
The event commands more than 35,000 square meters of exhibit space this year, up nearly 7 percent from 2007, says Mary Larkin, VP of seafood expositions for show organizer Diversified Business Communications of Portland, Maine, USA.
DBC produces SeafoodSource.com and is publisher of SeaFood Business. Look for breaking news stories and video from the show floor on SeafoodSource.com and its daily e-mail newsletter, SeafoodSource News.
There are about 1,650 companies exhibiting from 75 countries at this year's show.
New to the country and regional pavilions this year are the Yemeni Seafood Exporters Association and Beijing Leway International Fairs Co. Ltd., which is part of the China pavilion.
Another 2008 addition is a conference Wednesday about the importance of sourcing seafood from well-managed fisheries and environmentally and socially responsible farms, a fast-emerging trend in the global seafood industry.
Winners of the eighth annual Seafood Prix d'Elite new products competition will be announced tomorrow. Awards will be presented to the best new retail and foodservice products and, at the judges' discretion, to winners of five categories: health and nutrition, retail packaging, originality, convenience and seafood product line.
