By Atuna
The World’s largest food fair, the ANUGA, which took place last week in Germany, brought together approximately 153.500 trade visitors from more than 180 countries, with 61% (about 93.500) coming from abroad. Attendance was slightly lower than last year’s, which was noticed by the stand holders as well.
Tuna companies were mostly represented by some processors, such as Thai Union, Alliance Tuna and Sea Value, and big brands such as Princes and Isabel. Overall not many canned tuna exporters were there, substantially less than previous years.
Princes Tuna Bites – cubes in tetra pack- was one of the innovative products shown there. The Nature Fresh product line of Isabel – tuna in microwavable non metal cups in several varieties- also caught the attention of those in the business.
Several large German canned tuna importers and one German broker traditionally had their own stand there.
The amount of retail buyers was notably less according to some stand holders – some due to cuts in their travel budgets. Nevertheless, the President of the Federal Association of the German Retail Grocery Trade (BVL) affirmed that: “There was no sign of the economic crisis at Anuga†and added that the food sector remained stable even in difficult financial times. The Association presented, along with partners a section concerning sustainable fisheries and joined forces with German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture to kick off a cross-sector project to protect worldwide fish stocks.
The mood among tuna players at the fair was dominated by talks over sharply declining skipjack tuna prices. This shows the same trend as last year – when at the SIAL fair in France, tuna prices also started to drop sharply and buyers started pushing down levels.