II Seafood Expo Russia has been recognized by the world fishing community.
In mid-September, the main industry event of the year was held in St. Petersburg – II Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo Russia. The event organizers are the Federal Agency for Fisheries and the Branch Exhibition Operator Expo Solutions Group.
More than 250 companies from 20 countries presented the achievements in the global fish industry on Seafood Expo Russia 2018: Russia, Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Morocco, Argentina, Japan and others.
The second meeting of fishermen in the Northern capital has become much larger and more productive. The exhibition area increased from 8 to 13 thousand square meters, and the number of participants increased by 40% – up to 7 thousand people. The exhibition website traffic during the days of the exhibition amounted to 14 thousand visits, which is twice as much as in the same period last year.
The key industry players and the largest financial organization in the country supported the exhibition this year. The General Partner of the events was the NOREBO holding, the Official Partner status was assigned to the Russian Fishery Company, and the Strategic Partner was Russian Agricultural Bank.
For three days, Seafood Expo Russia united the representatives of the entire fishery production chain – from fishing in the sea to delivery to the final consumer.
The fishing and processing segment was represented by about 70 companies, mostly Russian ones, including the largest integrated holdings Vostok-1, Ozernovsky FCP № 55, Karelian Fishing Fleet, Gidrostroy, Okeanrybflot, FOR GROUP, F.E.S.T. and others. At their stands, the companies presented various products, captured species of aquatic bioresources, as well as development programs for the enterprises, designs of new production facilities.
About 80 companies were presented in the field of shipbuilding, ship repair, production of ship, fishing and component equipment, fishing gear, navigation systems. The flagships of this segment were foreign exhibitors, whose share of participation this year increased by 3 times.
The German Baader company and the Danish Carsoe and Intech International demonstrated high-tech conveyors for cutting and sorting fish; the Norwegian Optimar presented the facility with an innovative sea water cooling system; modern radio navigation equipment could be found at the stand of Simrad from Norway, as well as at the Russian representatives of the Japanese FURUNO company.
Developments of Russian scientists could also be found in this segment of the exhibition. For example, the Kurs Central Research Institute presented an innovative sea water cooling system based on the use of slurry ice – a suspension consisting of fine ice crystals ranging in size from 5 to 500 microns, allowing you to store fresh fish for up to 15 days.
The Far East Technologicheskoe Oborudovanie Company shared its project of cascade cooling systems using carbon dioxide instead of freon as a refrigerant.
The line of modern food phosphates, additives, antioxidants and other substances for fish processing was presented by the Chemfood capital company.
AVRORA LOGISTIC presented a new Russian development – an energy container for powering of reefer containers, the diesel installations of which provide continuous operation during transportation over distances of more than 10 thousand km, and the control of units and performance monitoring is carried out via a mobile application.
One could also see product presentations by aquaculture and mariculture enterprises, manufacturers of equipment for artificial rearing, feed, food additives from fish raw materials, and products from seaweed at the exhibition. For the first time this year, the exhibition was supplemented by enterprises of related industries – packaging manufacturers, logistics companies, PR agencies and retail chains, which served as a large increase in business activity of the exhibition.
“A number of events aimed at developing direct contacts between fishermen and trade representatives were organized. The result was not long in coming: during the exhibition, the FOR GROUP fishing company signed an open-ended agreement on fish drop shipments to all stores of the Lenta retail network”, said Director General of Expo Solutions Group Ivan Fetisov.
For the first time this year, the Russian fish exhibition displayed the national stands of Norway, Iceland, Argentina and Morocco; guests could also visit the joint expositions of individual fishing regions of Russia: Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Kaliningrad oblasts, Tatarstan, Karelia. Fishermen of the South of Russia united at the stand of the Azov-Black Sea commercial fishing basin.
Thanks to the rich tasting program from the exhibitors, the visitors had a possibility not only to see but also to try out various fish delicacies. A real gastronomic feast was arranged by the exhibition organizers Expo Solutions Group opened the first fish fast food restaurant “Russian Fish House"”, where house specialties of Russian fish and seafood were served in a modern interpretation and at affordable prices. Fish fast food was very popular with the visitors.
“The results exceeded all expectations. The exhibition was met with a great interest among the fishing community and actively supported by representatives of the state authorities. Fishermen from all over the world had an opportunity to exchange experience, establish business contacts, find new customers and partners, discuss and solve many urgent issues. Despite the age of information technology and freedom of communication, our exhibition has become a central spot of dialogue for the entire fishing industry”, summed up Ivan Fetisov.
