Conxemar 2005 Ends With Record Of Visitor ff

The Seventh International Frozen Seafood Expo Seafood and Aquaculture Products Wholesalers, Importers, Processors, and Exporters (CONXEMAR), which took place last week in the city of Vigo, northwest Spain, has once again been consolidated as one of the top fish expositions worldwide.

The International Exhibition took place between October 4^th and 6^th, and although the fairground had been enlarged by 10,000 square meters, it seemed too small to host the 552 stands representing 36 countries. During the three days of the event, it was visited by 33,400 people, which accounts for a 10 per cent increase from last year’s event. The international meeting was the stage for intensive debates on novelties in the transformation sector in terms of products, technology, machinery, and services.

The sectors represented included, wholesalers, importers, processors, aquaculture, freezing facilities, distributors, equipment, auxiliary industry, manufacturers, and different public entities.

Several parallel activities were carried out during the event, such as traceability conferences, Cantabrian seafood tastings offered by the Basque Government and the introduction of Canadian fisheries products and companies by its embassy in Spain.  Meetings were also held between representatives from the Galician Government and members of foreign delegations.

Additionally, within the framework of the European-Latin American Al Invest

III Week, the International Business Meetings among Small and Medium

Enterprises (Eurofish 2005) took place, bringing companies from Europe and Latin America. Eurofish is co-funded by the European Union (EU) and the Galician Junta’s Council of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs.

Approximately 169 fisheries companies attended these meetings, 113 of which are

European and 56 are Latin American -from countries such as Germany, France,

Italy, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru- among others. During the exposition, 1,139 interviews among the different participant companies were arranged, in accordance with the interest of each company.

Furthermore, a study on the latest market research on Spain’s seafood purchase, conservation and consumer habits, which was presented by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Food (MAPA) during the 3 day exposition, revealed an increase in fish consumption in Spain, especially among immigrants. It also indicated an improvement of the Spanish population opinion about seafood, compared to 2003. However, 50% of the consumers do not read labels.