‘The European Seafood Exposition in Brussels is the most important event of its kind and easily the the world´s largest seafood exhibition. Our experience of this exhibition has been excellent in past years as well as on this occasion,‘ said HB Grandi´s marketing manager Svavar Svavarsson. The company has been a regular ESE exhibitor since 2005 and this has been a vital link in the company´s long-term strategy of handling all of its marketing in-house.
According to Svavar Svavarsson, ESE is a fantastic platform for meeting customers and partners as well as for presenting its products to potential clients.
‘There has been a steady flow of people past our stand throughout the exhibition. We have seen all of our regular customers and have also seen plenty of visitors from many other companies. It was noticeable that many of our visitors are from areas that we see as our more distant markets, such as Asia, Southern Europe and Africa,‘ he said and commented that it appears that the present difficult state of global finance is not as likely as had been feared to affect the world´s trade in seafood.
‘We certainly haven´t been aware of a recession atmosphere. Quite the opposite, as we were very much aware of a great deal of optimism and a positive attitude. People haven´t stopped eating seafood even though the world´s economy is going through a temporary tough patch.‘
He said that HB Grandi´s staff took the opportunity to present the new Icelandic Eco Label for responsible fishing to overseas buyers.
‘The responses have all been the same. Customers appreciate the efforts we have been making to achieve an internationally-recognised label that confirms Iceland‘s responsible exploitation of its marine resources. We were encouraged to embark on a programme of presenting this as widely as possible across our main markets. This venture was unveiled at the IceFish exhibition in Iceland last year and it was a logical step to continue the process at the European Seafood Exposition in Brussels.‘ said Svavar Svarasson.
