Although most of its citizens may not be aware of it, Barcelona is a city with fishing activity, despite the decreasing number of professionals dedicated to this traditional activity. For three days, from May 6 to 8, the Catalan capital will become the largest showcase for seafood products, with fish and shellfish filling five pavilions of Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue. The Seafood Expo Global fair celebrates its 31st edition with the aim of bringing together international suppliers and buyers of seafood products, an event that last year attracted more than 35,000 attendees from all over the world, a figure that the organization expects to be repeated for this edition.
The event will bring together the world's leading suppliers of seafood products, whether fresh or frozen, as well as buyers from all over the world, including supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, and catering companies. Among the confirmed companies for this edition are prominent companies such as Pescanova and Iberconsa, which will showcase the latest innovations in seafood products and processing technologies. An event, organized by Diversified, which is expected to generate an economic impact of more than 156 million euros, repeating and even surpassing the figures of its last edition, which closed as the largest in the fair's history.
In addition to matching its economic impact on the city, the event also aims to repeat the numbers of its last edition in terms of exhibition space. For now, the fair will occupy a total of 51,000 square meters, a figure that, however, the organization points out may vary and even increase in the coming weeks, as the participating companies are still being finalized.
The organization also predicts that new participating companies could be incorporated, which for now they estimate at more than 2,040 exhibiting companies from some 80 countries, as well as 65 national and regional pavilions. Among the participating countries are new additions, such as Brazil, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka, in addition to those that annually repeat at the fair, such as France, Japan, and the United States. For the first time, the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency, the Japanese Federation of Soy Sauce Manufacturers Cooperatives, Pro Ecuador, the Sri Lanka Export Development Board, and the Institut Valencià de Competitivitat Empresarial (IVACE) will participate.
This will be the fourth edition held in the Catalan capital, after it moved from Belgium in 2022. "We are very satisfied with having moved to Barcelona and we want to continue holding increasingly larger editions with greater impact here," said Wynter Courmont, Vice President of Seafood. For his part, the commercial director of Fira de Barcelona, Ruben Dalmau, stressed that this event "has not stopped growing and, year after year, generates a profound impact and great business opportunities."
A leading and benchmark event in the seafood sector that responds to Fira de Barcelona's strategy of "attracting the leading events in each sector to become benchmarks from Barcelona," Dalmau assured, recalling that other influential international events in the food sector are held in the Catalan capital, such as Alimentaria, Barcelona Wine Week or VitaFoods, which this year will celebrate its first edition at Fira de Barcelona, after 26 years in Geneva, with the aim of gaining exhibition space and being able to grow.
The event will also be complemented by an extensive conference program, which will consist of more than 20 sessions led by 80 international experts from the seafood industry. The inaugural conference of the fair will be given by Xavier Sala-i-Martín, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, in which he will address how to navigate the economic uncertainties affecting the seafood sector and the market in general. Regarding the tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump government, Courmont defended that it is still too early to assess the impact of this measure for the sector, but assured that the exhibition can represent a "good meeting point for all agents in the sector to discuss and find joint solutions to the challenges posed by these new situations."
The presentations and round tables of this edition will explore topics such as the decarbonization of activity or the sustainable packaging of the product. In addition, during the show, the Seafood Excellence Global Awards will also be presented, the annual awards that recognize the best seafood products represented at the fair, which distinguish both the best product for retail, as well as the best product for hotels, restaurants and catering. Four other special awards focused on innovation, convenience, packaging and seafood product line will also be granted.