The Seafood Expo North America closed its doors yesterday, and the executives of the companies present spoke with AQUA Media to comment on how things went during these three intense days of business.
The largest seafood fair in North America ended yesterday, Tuesday the 12th, with happy accounts from national exhibitors. The thousands of visitors from all distribution channels, mostly Horeca, made it possible to strengthen existing ties and, in some cases, generate new businesses that grow the national presence in the country.
The general manager of Cooke Aquaculture Chile, Andrés Parodi, who was present at the fair, spoke with AQUA Media and commented that “the national presence at Boston Seafood is important, because just like for us, for the majority of Chilean producers The United States continues to be the number one market for Atlantic salmon. This country is tremendously relevant, and it is good to see Chilean companies with a great presence here, which I would tell you is quite comparable to what I have seen in Norway.”
“This is the market in Chile, and I have seen the country quite well. I have also spoken with many general managers from other companies, which is very good, because it effectively allows us to be close to all our clients and listen, not only from the sales area, but also what there is to know from other areas. of production. “This enhances the proposal that Chile offers to visitors to the fair,” he continued.
For his part, the general manager of Salmones Austral, Gastón Cortez, explained that “for us, in general, fairs are a meeting point with our clients, it is rather a place where we have meetings with them, reaffirm contracts, etc. In this sense, it is very important to talk in person, and it is what we do in Japan when we go to Japan or Barcelona, and it is what we did here, so I think it is always positive and fully met our expectations.”
The CEO of Camanchaca, Ricardo García, spoke with Medios AQUA, expressing his happiness with what was achieved at the Seafood Expo. “It was a good fair and we have been able to talk with our main clients, some of whom have been working with us for 10, 15 years or more. Many of them have been growing significantly and we grow with them.” He added that “I have also had the opportunity to participate in some very interesting seminars, such as the Intrafish one, which was very good this year. In short, it has been a good step here.”
Meanwhile, the general manager of Blumar and part of the governance of BluGlacier –joint venture with Ventisqueros-, Gerardo Balbontín, commented that “I would say that in general, it went well for us. Here it is difficult to measure, because the business is not closed during the fair, and in that sense the key is the relationship, and without a doubt we present ourselves to the main clients and the perception is good. Salmon continues to be the star product, it is a product in the United States that has more and more penetration, and that, despite the inflationary processes that may exist, continues to maintain its demand, so overall very happy.”
Likewise, the Commercial Manager of AquaChile, Vicente de la Cruz, highlighted that their participation was very positive. «This instance allows us to reinforce our commitment to the North American and global market through our Aqua and Verlasso brands. Additionally, it is an excellent opportunity to meet with our current and potential clients. In fact, during this fair we had more than 700 meetings. He complemented by stating that “we consider that the fair was a success for AquaChile, which has used diversification in different markets as a key strategy to consolidate itself as the main producer of Pacific Salmon worldwide.”
The Commercial Director of the ProChile office in New York, Andrea Sapag, said that “in general terms, we have asked the companies that participated in the Chile pavilion, and they are very happy with the results of the fair. There were many visitors. Both on Sunday and Monday, the influx of public was very high and today – yesterday -, despite it being the last day of the fair, I would tell you that the majority have been busy with meetings. They have contacted the current clients they had and told me that there were also around 20% of new prospects who approached me.” He added that “now the great challenge is for everything to be finalized with future businesses.”
Bionix Aquaculture Director Paulina Artacho, who is participating in the other part of the fair, which is Seafood Processing North America, spoke with AQUA and explained that the “fair is huge, it really is a monster, which allowed us know several areas in which we did not yet have clients, that is, we were able to go to several areas that we had not yet approached. We approach, for example, oyster farmers and lobster processors here in Canada and the United States, which are a huge market. We also spoke with some national companies that have operations in Canada and other parts of the world. So our expectations have actually been met and exceeded.”
Source: www.aqua.cl
