FEED Business Worldwide - March, 2012

 

Victam Asia 2012: Successful in a difficult year 

 

by F.E. OLIMPO

 

 

Held barely two months  after Bangkok endured severe flooding, Victam Asia 2012 took place February 15th-17th  at the BITEC exhibition centre and successfully attracted thousands of exhibitors and visitors from the feed milling, pet food, aquatic feed and biomass technology industries. In its previous editions, this biennial event had been held at the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre in downtown Bangkok, which is its permanent home. However, with that venue under renovations, this year's edition was temporarily relocated to BITEC.

 

Three other related exhibitions –Aquafeed Horizons 2012, Feed Ingredients & Additives Asia Pacific  (FIAAP) and GRAPAS, Southeast Asia's only event for rice and flour milling, grain processing and storage, were held concurrently with Victam. On the show's opening day on Feb. 15, more than 2,800 visitors entered BITEC. More than a third of them came from 66 countries outside Thailand, said Victam Managing Director Henk van de Bunt.  In all, this year's event had a total of 166 exhibitors coming from 29 countries.

 

Permanent Secretary Yukol Limlamthong of Thailand's ministry of agriculture and cooperatives cut the ribbon at the opening of the three-day event. In his brief address, Mr. Yukol noted the global market's current preoccupation with chemical-free meat products. This has, he said, posed a major challenge to the feed industry, which is to produce feeds that are not only of the highest quality but must also be free of chemicals and residues.

 

To address such concerns, Mr. Yukol said the Thai government "realizes that it is important to simplify technical knowledge and modern technology in production of raw material procurement, ingredients, manufacturing, technology, machinery, processing, storage and agriculture to primary producers."

 

In addition, several industry and technical symposiums were held concurrently with Victam.  On February 15th, advances in the processing and formulation of aqua feed were tackled in the whole-day Aquafeed Horizons Asia 2012 forum (see Page 69).  The next day, feed and nutrition experts addressed the Feed Ingredients and Additives  Asia Pacific (FIAAP) conference to discuss the latest concerns and advances in the feed and additives sectors (see Page 66).

 

 A panel discussion on Thailand's own feed industry was held on the last day of the exhibition. It featured an animated topical exchanges between Ms. Wimolporn Thitisak, deputy director-general of Thailand's department of livestock development; Mr. Pornsilp Patcharintanakul, president of the Thai Feed Mills Association; and, Mr. Seree Denworalak, president of the Thai Tapioca Trade Association.

 

Other forums held on the sidelines of the three-day feed industry exhibition were the GRAPAS Asia Conference for rice, flour, cereals and oilseeds industry practitioners, the Petfood Forum Asia, and the Pellets Update Asia.

 

In the Pellets Update workshop, international experts presented papers on wood pellets. The well-attended Petfood Forum, on the hand, showcased latest innovations in pet nutrition, petfood processing, safety and marketing.

 

With the flooding and its temporary relocation having impeded its usual marketing, Victam's attendance was down but this did not bother many conference participants. For example, Han van der Broek, Kemira's sales and marketing manager noted that many large feed and livestock suppliers were well represented. This made Victam an excellent forum for large international suppliers and their Asian agribusiness clients to meet and negotiate. All this while learning of new potential suppliers and potential emerging industry competitors.

 

Hence, while numbers were down this year, most participants noted that the quality of companies represented and the content of related shows such as FIAAP and Aquafeed Horizons remained high. Consequently, while the weather gods dented this year's Victam attendance, the show remains a key venue, both with regards to companies represented and the content of its related conferences.

 

Southeast Asia's feed sector is growing by leaps and bounds and the next Victam will see it back in its home venue, under better weather conditions. The fair remains ASEAN's key feed industry event and you can expect it to regain its momentum in years to come.