More than 45,000 professionals and industry experts visited the 2019 edition of VIV Asia in Bangkok, one of the leading international trade shows from feed-to-food for Asia
Organised by VNU Exhibitions Asia Pacific and VNU Exhibitions Europe from 13-15 March, VIV Asia 2019 achieved a seven per cent increase of visits from outside of the hosting country.
Biggest visitors’ increase from overseas
With Asian markets in the lead, overseas visitors came from more than 120 countries.
Around 65 per cent of the total 45,023 visits registered at VIV Asia 2019 came from outside of Thailand, confirming the international flavour of this show where local visitors counted for 35 per cent, against the 39 per cent Thai visits audited in 2017.
China, the first visiting country after Thailand, significantly increased its attendance by 12 per cent compared to the previous edition. Following China, the top 10 visiting Asian markets were India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Pakistan.
Cambodia has positioned in the top 20 visiting countries completing more and more the ASEAN markets coverage at the 2019 show. Despite the air space closure affecting visitors’ attendance right before the show dates, Pakistan managed to confirm its 11th position in the visiting countries’ list. Some others in the top 20 visiting countries were Myanmar, Japan, Nepal and Iran.
With regards to the exhibiting offerings, VIV Asia has a more international flavour this time. Around 1,245 exhibitors from 62 countries covered at BITEC, a space of 31,007 sq m net (up 30 per cent from 2017) where 10 international pavilions showcased a number of new companies and brands.
In particular, the Canadian and Japanese pavilions marked their new entry into VIV Asia 2019, next to the recurring pavilions from Belgium, China, France, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA. Finally, new exhibiting countries represented by individual companies such as Cyprus, Ecuador, Finland, Jordan, Lithuania, Morocco, Myanmar, Paraguay, Tunisia and Uruguay.
Greatly satisfied expectations
Out of 10 points, the satisfaction rate reached 8.1 points among VIV Asia exhibitors and 8.6 among the visitors, according to a survey done by the organisers in the 10 days following the show.
The visitors spent more time at the showground, with second and third day revisits increased by three per cent compared to 2017.
Several organised delegations, with the support of expert industry partners from China, Cambodia, Iran, the Philippines, South Korea, Nepal and other countries, had the chance to visit the show and to join tailor-made activities including guided tours at the show ground and special session selections.
Complete food value chain on display
Visitors experienced an entire feed-to-food offerings at the show ground, apart from a wide range of conference and seminar programmes to learn, network, and share knowledge.
Around 86 sessions were presented by partners, exhibitors and organisers. Around
200 high-level international speakers discussed on topics such as nature of farming in tropical areas, prevention of animal diseases, performance increase in pigs and poultry while reducing medication, shrimp farming technology and many others.
The visitors further talked about inspirational best practices and innovative technology for risk control and stress reduction, market trends, regional policies, as well as technical and commercial topics.
Educational sessions
Educational and informative sessions were attended by a total of 5,396 visits over the three days at BITEC.
On the first day of the show, the Swine Raisers Association of Thailand organised a conference on “ASF: The disruption of ASEAN pig industry,” which received the biggest audience of 333 delegates.
On the second day, the Federation of Asian Veterinary Associations (FAVA) organised a session on “AMR: from science to policy,” which attracted 231 attendees.
The “China connects” seminar, jointly organised by VIV Qingdao and VIV worldwide on the first day, welcomed 162 delegates. The session served as the networking platform to deepen the cooperation between Chinese animal husbandry and food industry and global industries.
The recent developments of the African Swine Fever (ASF), with a dangerous outbreak spreading from China to Vietnam right before the show dates, had the Thai government campaigning for farmers not to attend the show as a measure of
Containing the outbreak and protecting the swine sector in ASEAN. Certainly this had an influence on show numbers.
On the other hand, the show represents a great opportunity for industry operators to build the knowledge on how to better manage these diseases, and thus the impact on the overall exhibition attendance was limited considering the relatively small drop in visits.
The food engineering related conferences were “MEAT 360° trend & innovation,” “Asian Food & Tech Trends” and “Food Engineering Conference.” The sessions received 319 visits. Food engineering including processing and handling represented 10.5 per cent of VIV Asia 2019 total show space, with 93 per cent increase compared to the previous edition.
The exhibition space showcased 24.5 per cent of farm production, six per cent of breeding and hatching companies, six per cent crop-tech and feed-tech solutions, 37 per cent feed ingredients and additives, 14 per cent of animal health enterprises and two per cent media and consultancy companies.
With a strong line-up of 100 companies featuring some of the global players in the primary and further processing of protein-based food, the newly branded food engineering section officially took off at VIV Asia 2019, aiming to become a significant pillar within the VIV portfolio.
Asian Personality Awards
As a way to acknowledge the importance of showing continuous dedication and passion for the industry’s developments and the VIV events, VIV worldwide together with Positive Action Publications hosted the Asian Personality Awards during the opening ceremony. The five personalities acknowledged this year were Rafael Monleon, Noplit Sermsaksasitorn, Axel Arras, Alain Recroix and Prof Thaweesak Songserm.
Thinking ahead
VIV Asia launched a new VIV trade show and forum focusing on feed, pharmaceutics and genetics in the animal protein production.
VIV health & nutrition Asia 2020 is the upcoming niche event by VIV worldwide, which will focus on the innovations in nutrition, pharmaceutics and high-tech animal health solutions. The new show will be held in the same location of VIV Asia, at BITEC, on the even years, said the organisers.
The next edition of VIV Asia will be held in 2021.
