The greatest seafood show on earth - FASFA attend Seafood Expo Global 2024

The Frozen At Sea Fillets Association (FASFA) Executive Director Julie Waites along with many of their members recently attended the 30th edition of Seafood Expo Global.

The largest seafood-focused trade fair in the world is called Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global. It was held at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona from Tuesday, April 23, to Thursday, April 25. It is the  most varied seafood trade show and revealed that its 30th edition was the biggest in its history. 51,227 net square metres of exhibit area were taken up by the Expo.

Global media, suppliers, buyers, and seafood companies attend the exhibition. This year, over 34,000 professionals in the fish industry visited the event.
Every year, the three-day exposition attracts thousands of global suppliers and buyers who come to interact, network, and do business. Buyers in attendance include wholesalers, importers, exporters, restaurants, logistics, retail and foodservice businesses. Exhibiting suppliers offer the newest seafood products, processing and packaging equipment, and services available in the seafood market.

Once more, the occasion offered a worldwide forum for face-to-face meetings and business transactions between buyers and suppliers from the global sector. With 66 national and regional pavilions, over 2,244 exhibiting businesses from 87 nations participated in the 2024 edition. 584 businesses made their debut, along with new regional pavilions from Brazil, France, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Oman, as well as new nations including Azerbaijan, Brazil, and Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

For numerous FASFA members, this event holds great significance and is a must-attend event. Some of them have created eye-catching pavilions and booths and displayed their work for the entire three days. Country pavilions who represented our Frozen at Sea members included the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway and the UK. Individual FASFA members who exhibited were Unique Seafoods, Royal Greenland, JFK, Fastnet Fish Ltd, J Marr, Seagold, Youngs Seafood Ltd and Leinebris. Many other members attended including the team from Smales Ltd, and the Q Partnership group comprising of Friars Pride, Henry Colbecks  and VA Whitely & Co Ltd. The focus of the event is all about setting up in-person interactions with key players and learning about the latest developments in the global seafood industry.

As a fundamental component of Defra’s Seafood Export Package, a 264 square metre pavilion for UK seafood companies was hosted by Defra, Seafish and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). The pavilion hosted a demonstration kitchen with chef CJ Jackson who cooked continuously over the 3 days a delight of seafood samples. The stand also had a private meeting room, and a common lounge.

Having FASFA represented in the Seafood Grimsby & Humber booth on the UK pavilion for the first time was hugely beneficial. Several FASFA members made use of the SGHA booth, meeting with the team to talk about potential commercial ventures and future collaboration.

Throughout the week, there was undoubtedly a lot of energy, with networking parties and business talks going late into the night. This concentration of seafood businesses in one location is unmatched elsewhere.

At the end of the week, the exhibition organisers helped exhibitors donate leftover seafood to local food shelters.

Thinking of attending next year? The dates are 6-8 May 2025, at Fira Barcelona Gran Via.