March 9, 2006
Victam Asia sees double this year
An eFeedLink Exclusive
With twice the number of exhibitors compared with its last regional showing in 2004, Victam Asia 2006 opened its doors to the feed community on Mar 8 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Visitor numbers at the three-day show are also expected to match the larger exhibitor turn-out, as the expo returns to familiar grounds in South-east Asia after four years.
Promoting itself as "Asia Pacific's premier event for the animal and aquatic feed, rice and grain processing industries", what is clear to any visitor is that the biennial event continues to live up to its reputation as a showcase for feed milling equipment and systems.
| A walk down the aisles of the designated hall in the Queen Sirikit National Conventional Centre reveals a majority of exhibits belonging to the equipment, machinery and operations category. Feed additives, automation and control systems, and consulting and information services fill up the bulk of the remaining exhibits.
Also obvious is the conspicuous participation of Chinese companies and visitors. Big names in China's feed processing like the Zhengchang Group, Sanwei and Muyang stand tall with their prominent machinery exhibits and equally eye- and ear-catching booth activities.
Present in considerable numbers too are several Latin American companies, most of whom cited the rapidly growing Asian market as compelling enough reasons for their long-haul flights to this year's event. |
The Victam crowd mingling amid the 100-odd mainly equipment exhibits |
Aquafeed attraction
But the honour of central event for the first day would likely go to a full-day seminar for aquaculture practitioners.
Organised by the Hawaii-based aquatic feed portal Aquafeeds.com, the workshop "Optimise for Profit" took place during what has been hailed as an important period for aquaculture in
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The Aquafeeds workshop, a fitting seminar for an important period in Thai aquaculture |
Poultry's loss has been aquaculture's gain. In P. Vanamae has taken shrimp culture by storm even as the poultry sector continues to do battle with bird flu outbreaks. Drug and chemical residue problems have also increased demand for commercial feeds as freshwater shrimp farmers increasingly abandon on-farm feed mixes. Still, shrimp producers are faced with their own set of challenges--namely, low shrimp prices, disease outbreaks and credit limits. INVE's Dr Peter Coutteau noted the need to lower production costs as shrimp prices are unlikely to strengthen significantly. Yet because production systems for aquaculture still lag behind that for poultry, balancing cost and benefits is often tricky, asserted Alltech's Dr Dan Fegan. |
Despite domestic political upheavals and public demonstrations, the mood is unmistakably one of business-as-usual in the effervescent Thai capital. As one of Asia's leaders in feed and food production,
eFeedLink made its debut participation at Victam Asia 2006 with a booth at no. 604.
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