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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