The Seafood Global congress dodges the effects of the war

BarcelonaThe international congress of seafood companies and products, Seafood Global, will open a new edition on April 21 with similar prospects to last year's. The organizers of the meeting do not foresee that the war in the Middle East will affect attendance at the meeting and estimate that the event will have an impact on the city's economy of around 161 million euros.

According to Wynter Courmont, vice president of Diversified Communications –a North American company organizing the exhibition–, the war has not affected the presence of companies: "In terms of exhibitors, we have not seen any impact," she said at the press conference presenting the congress, where she also confirmed that there will be a total of 2,300 companies with stands over the three days of the event, which will end on Sant Jordi's Day. Despite this, Courmont did not want to make forecasts about the number of visitors, which last year was 35,000 people.

"It is important that the industry meets at events like Seafood, to know how to navigate these global challenges, because it is obvious that given the nature of the industry, something like this will have an impact," Courmont added about the armed conflict in the Persian Gulf. The meeting is the most important in Europe for companies dedicated to fishing and the production of seafood-related foods.

The fair will take place at the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, where it will occupy nearly 53,000 square meters spread across five of the eight pavilions. Among the new features of this 2026 edition is the creation of an aquaculture innovation zone, where participating companies will present innovations in areas such as fish farm management, animal welfare, and sustainable feed, among others.

In addition, the event will also include a program of conferences, colloquiums, and training sessions with experts, politicians, and senior executives from the sector, such as the director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Shirlene Maria Anthonysamy; the director of Blue Forests at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Dominic Andradi-Brown, and the CEO of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Chris Ninnes.

Weight of the agri-food sector

The general director of Fira de Barcelona, Constantí Serrallonga, has celebrated "the complicity, the joint work and the shared commitment" between the organizers and Fira to keep Seafood in Barcelona, where it has already celebrated five editions. Furthermore, Serrallonga has highlighted the importance of the agri-food industry in the calendar of events since the beginning of the year, as since January Fira has hosted Alimentaria/Hostelco and Barcelona Wine Week.