Both the general development trend in bilateral relations and the successful experience of exhibitors and business missions last year have raised participation by Chinese companies in Seafood Expo Russia to a new level. Their joint exposition this year will occupy an area of 166 square metres in pavilion F.
More than 19 fish industry companies from China, including traders and fish producers, aquaculture farms and equipment suppliers, manufacturers of processing equipment and other operations in the fish product supply chain, have already confirmed their participation in Seafood Expo Russia 2024. Among them are China Starfish, Dalian Gaishi Food, Dalian Haibao Foods, Dalian Season Red Foods, Hainan Yunzhou Foods, Lekon Fish Processing Solutions, Liaoning Ande Foodstuff, Longyang Fresh, Shandong Dingtaisheng Machinery Technology, Shangdong Meijia Group, Shanghai Hollywin Frozen Food, Shanghai Shanhaiji Supply Chain, Zhejiang Oriental Ocean Corporation, Dalian Rich Enterprise group and Zhoushan Taihe Food. They will participate within the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA)* stand.
Fish products supplier Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products will also be exhibiting with a separate stand. Honghai Marine Technologies and Chonson Beyond Technology Group will display their vessel and processing equipment. Liao Yu Group Co, one of China’s oldest and biggest diversified state-owned fishery companies, will also have a stand for the first time. Last year its representatives held a business meeting with fish product exporters and transport companies, while this year they will offer solutions for development of Russian fisheries to a wide audience of visitors and participants.
“The development of Russian-Chinese ties in fisheries and trade in fish products creates economic incentives for both sides. Although cooperation between fishery companies, associations and other formal and informal actors continues throughout the year, it is participation in exhibitions that presents the results and outlines the prospects for this joint work. So, the number of Chinese participants at Seafood Expo Russia is growing in what is called a ‘natural’ way. It was the negotiations at the Qingdao exhibition that helped us bring to the Chinese side clearly determined prospects for cooperation and suggest ways for realizing them at the exhibition in Saint Petersburg,” said Ivan Fetisov.
Not only the exhibited products but also the event’s business agenda will reflect the development of cooperation and growth of trade in fish products between Russia and China. Consequently, a bilateral session is scheduled to include a dialogue between exporters and importers of fishery products, equipment and technologies from both countries. Wang Xueguang, Vice President and Secretary General of CAPMMA, and Lu Daqiang, Chairman of Liao Yu Group Co, have been invited to take part. The Russian side will be represented by Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries Andrey Yakovlev, President of the All-Russia Association of Fisheries Enterprises, Entrepreneurs and Exporters (VARPE) German Zverev, General Director of the Russian Fishery Company Savely Karpukhin, Commercial Director of Oceanrybflot Andrey Gusev, representatives of Volga-Dnepr Airlines and VTB Shanghai, and General Director of Expo Solutions Group Ivan Fetisov.
Participants of the business session will discuss a wide range of issues going beyond increasing the supply of fish products to Chinese retail chains and related procedures. This year, the focus will also be on cooperation in technology development in shipbuilding, aquaculture and production of equipment for vessels, fishing, storage and logistics. The discussion will be moderated by Alexander Morev, Project Manager for Supporting Agribusiness Exports, Russian Export Centre.
Last year, a roundtable on entry by Russian fish and seafood suppliers onto the Chinese market was held as part of the forum and exhibition business program. It looked at all the stages products go through to reach supermarket shelves and consumers’ tables: trade mark registration, import of products as per the customs requirements, promotion on platforms popular with the Chinese audience and large fish markets. The materials of this roundtable and other events of the 2023 forum and exhibition business program are available on the official website.
* China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance was set up in 1994 and is now China's biggest fisheries industry association, bringing together more than 1,700 companies from the industrial fishing, processing, aquaculture, promotion and fisheries logistics sectors.