24th Busan International Seafood & Fisheries EXPO concludes, with visitor numbers up 19.8% year on year

[Financial News] Busan Metropolitan City Government announced on the 12th that the 24th BISFE, held at BEXCO Exhibition Hall 1 from the 4th to the 6th, drew 18,302 visitors, up 19.8% from the previous year.

This year's event brought together 535 companies from 32 countries worldwide and featured around 1,300 booths. All of these figures were up from last year's 30 countries, 480 companies and around 1,200 booths. Among the participants, 167 overseas companies took part with around 170 booths.
The event featured exhibitions covering all areas of the fisheries industry—including seafood products, fisheries equipment, smart aquaculture, marine biotechnology, and startups and investment—along with a range of side events. Participating companies from Korea and abroad showcased their products and technologies. At seminars on fisheries in various countries, held for the first time this year, participants shared information on each country's fisheries industry and discussed ways to cooperate.
This year, the event expanded its invitations to overseas buyers and newly organized export consultation sessions to support participating companies' efforts to enter overseas markets.
A trade consultation event for overseas buyers, organized by the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, drew 98 buyers from 17 countries, about 22.5% more than the 80 participants last year. An export consultation event jointly organized by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and BEXCO was also held for the first time, with consultations between eight overseas buyers from four countries and Korean fisheries companies.
The two consultation events resulted in 1,306 export consultations worth approximately $85 million (about KRW 115.9 billion). Of these, 110 export contracts worth approximately $15 million (about KRW 20.4 billion) are being pursued.
In addition, at a consultation event for merchandisers (MDs) from domestic distributors, 24 buyers took part in 333 consultations worth approximately KRW 59.9 billion, with 105 contracts worth approximately KRW 4.3 billion being pursued. The global business consultation event saw 276 consultations worth $132.54 million (about KRW 178 billion), and 159 contracts worth a total of $59.93 million are being pursued.
Academic events and talent-development programs were also organized to strengthen the fisheries industry's future competitiveness. Around 1,000 people, including marine and fisheries stakeholders and prospective talent, took part in the 10th Marine and Fisheries Talent Development Day, held as an in-house event, underscoring the importance of exchanges among industry, academia and research institutions and of developing specialized fisheries professionals.
[email protected] Byun Ok-hwan Reporter