With almost every fishing and seafood industry exhibition cancelled over the last year due to Covid-19, the Icelandic Fisheries Exhibition, scheduled for 15-17th September this year, is looking positive.
According to Mercator Media’s sales executive Diane Lillo, whose role is all about being in close touch with exhibitors at the event, there is an exceptionally strong interest in this year’s exhibition, which was rolled over to 2021 after holding the exhibition initially scheduled for 2020 was not an option.
‘IceFish is looking really good, even with the problems of the pandemic,’ she said, commenting that more than 80% of space at the exhibition is reserved or confirmed.
‘It shows that there is a lot of interest in reaching the Iceland market, as well as the wider Nordic fishing, seafood and aquaculture industries. A lot of exhibitors re-booked during the 2017 event for the next IceFish, so we have a strong cohort of our longstanding exhibitors taking part. But we also have an impressive showing of companies that have not exhibited at IceFish before,’ she said.
This is a clear reflection on the event’s broadened scope which seeks to provide a platform for the the seafood processing sector as well as the aquaculture industry that is growing rapidly in Iceland.
‘From Norway we have Optimar taking a stand for the first time, and they are a heavyweight supplier of sophisticated systems for fishing and aquaculture, as well Knuro, who supply specialised systems for the aquaculture sector, and French company ISI Fish is coming to IceFish as they see our event as the way to meet the Nordic region’s fisheries sector,’ she said.
‘We are also seeing plenty of interest from companies looking to reach the seafood processing sector, such as Steen, which is a first-time exhibitor for us.’
The Tersan Shipyard in Turkey, which has emerged as a key builder of high-tech factory vessels, is participating in IceFish for the first time.
‘It’s good to sea that we also have Icelandic companies that are joining us for the first time, such Vaki, and this is due to the exhibition’s growing focus on the aquaculture side of the industry,’ she said.
