EU buyers fishing for seafood at B.C. Expo
“The
BC Seafood Expo is a great venue to meet buyers from Europe,” – European Union
(EU) Chamber of Commerce in Canada West.
By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews
More than four out of ten Europeans eat
seafood at least once a week at home and over 60 percent of consumers in a
recent survey said they like to try new and sustainable products and species.
But Europe consumes far more seafood than
it can catch in domestic waters or produce in fish farms. More than half of the
yearly demand comes from abroad.
“For B.C. this provides a great opportunity
to market locally caught or farmed seafood in Europe,” said Alex Martyniak,
executive director of the European Union (EU) Chamber of Commerce in Canada
West. (pictured)
He said the Canada-EU Comprehensive
Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) also gives Canadian companies unprecedented
access to the European market and its over 500 million consumers – a great many
of whom enjoy and appreciate high quality fish and seafood products. “The
reduction in tariffs on 96% of Canadian fish and seafood products is an
opportunity not to be missed for B.C,” said Martyniak, who has been attending
the B.C. Seafood Expo for the last four years.
The BC Seafood Expo, which will be held in
the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island on June 12 and 13, is one of the largest
seafood industry trade shows in the Pacific Northwest. The Expo is part of the
2019 BC Seafood Festival which will be held from June 7 to 16.
“The BC Seafood Expo is a great venue to
meet buyers from Europe,” said Martyniak, adding that the EU is the world’s
largest importer of seafood products with a high per capita average annual
consumption of seafood at 25.1 kg.
This year, the buyers from Europe will be
part of the largest international delegation to the B.C. Seafood Expo.
They include; Abramczyk Sp. (Poland), The Uzbekistan
Association of restaurateurs and hoteliers, Atlantic UMMA LLC (Uzbekistan),
Caravan Group (Uzbekistan), Kemal Balikcilik-Group Sagun (Turkey), Principal
Duo (Turkey), Herkules (Uzbekistan), Suempol sp.z.o.o (Poland) and Universal
Fish Company (Ukraine).
Meanwhile, Japanese seafood company Maruha
Nichiro reported today that it will export fully farmed tuna to Europe, taking
advantage of a recent economic partnership agreement scrapping most substantial
tariffs.
The company aims to sell more than 10 tons
of fully farmed tuna to Europe in fiscal 2019.
Maruha Nichiro said that growing concern
about overfishing has sparked greater interest among European consumers in
fully farmed seafood. Unlike conventionally farmed tuna, which are caught in
the wild as juveniles and raised to maturity, fully farmed tuna are hatched
from farm-raised fish.
About BC Seafood Expo Trade Show 2019
The BC Seafood Expo Trade Show 2019 will
provide businesses the opportunity to meet face-to-face and showcase their
products & services to seafood buyers, exporters, distributors and other
providers from throughout BC and the Pacific Northwest.
For more information and how to register go
to https://bcseafoodexpo.com/
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