Celebrating its 25th anniversary, VICTAM Asia 2016 and its co-located events, FIAAP Asia 2016 and GRAPAS Asia 2016, saw attendance reach an all-time high of 6,374. Held March 29-31 at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC) in Bangkok, Thailand, the biennial event was sold out and 11% larger than the 2014 show, organizers said. About 40% of the attendees were from outside Thailand. There were 223 exhibitors and co-exhibitors from 28 countries displaying a wide range of products.
“Once again the event has grown. (There were) more visitors, more conference delegates and more exhibitors,” Victam International General Manager Henk van de Bunt said. “I think this reflects the growing importance and dynamism of the Asian feed, grain and biomass markets. I think that the event will continue to grow and so too will investment in these increasingly important industry sectors.”
The three shows brought together industry executives, suppliers and leaders from the feed and grain processing industries.
FIAAP focuses on the ingredients, additives and formulation of feeds for animals, aquafeed and dry petfood for the expanding Asia/Pacific markets. VICTAM covers the equipment, technology and ancillary systems required for production animal feed, aquafeed, dry petfood and biomass pellet production.
GRAPAS deals with rice and flour milling systems, grain processing, storage, preservation and distribution, industrial noodle and pasta production, manufacture of breakfast cereals and extruded snacks.
Several of the exhibitors made special presentations during the technical seminars.
The educational program, which was presented in English and simultaneously interpreted into Thai, included the following presentations:
- “Feed Processing Technology,” Amandus Kahl
- “Innovate Ingredients for Aquaculture Feeds,” Soon Soon Oilmills
- “Food Safety,” Bühler
- “Storage and Transport Solutions,” Bühler.
Victam International BV organized the 2nd ASEAN Feed and Rice Symposium. The 10-member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) group are Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
The ASEAN market accounts for a significant amount of trade. In 2014, $19.83 billion in cereals exports and imports were executed in the ASEAN market, and $4.48 billion of milling industry products were traded.
The speakers at the ASEAN Feed and Rice Symposium, who were from the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF), Archer Daniels Midland Co., the Thai department of Livestock Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), addressed the 100 or so attendees.
Alexandra de Athayde, IFIF executive director, gave a presentation on recent developments in the global feed industry and how working together can help meet future demands and challenges.
De Athayde noted that IFIF’s vision is to provide a unified voice and leadership to represent and promote the global feed industry as an essential participant in the food chain that provides sustainable, safe, nutritious and affordable food for a growing world population. The IFIF is made up of a consortium of national and regional associations along with corporations.
Demand for animal protein is being driven by the increase in global population and the growth in per capita income around the world. She noted that the FAO is projecting that by 2050 animal protein demand will reach 1.69 billion tonnes. De Athayde noted that to sustainability meet the demand for more animal protein, the global feed industry must be resource efficient.
Thanabadee Rodsom, a well-respected feed industry figure in Thailand, gave a talk on trends and developments in Thailand and ASEAN’s feed industry.
He gave a presentation on the structure of the governing organizations and touched on consumption trends. Thailand’s animal feed imports jumped up 52% from 2014 to 2015. The top five sources of animal feed for Thailand are the U.S., Japan, China, Italy and Malaysia.
Robin Ong with ADM Asia Pacific gave a presentation on the development of raw materials in the ASEAN region.
The Victam Foundation once again organized and funded the ASEAN Feed Summit, which was hosted by the Thai Feed Mill Association. Held in closed session and chaired by Pornsil Patchrintanakul, president of the feed association, and moderated by Alexandra de Athayde, the event brought together senior feed regulators and industry representatives from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
During the discussions a number of relevant issues were identified for further potential cooperation, including capacity development for feed safety, sustainability, efforts toward regulatory harmonization, and standards development to facilitate trade and production at the regional and international level. A number of issues were identified for further potential cooperation, including capacity development for feed safety, efforts toward regulatory harmonization, as well as the need to work with all stakeholders in the agri-food chain on common challenges.
The conference organizers said the delegates appreciated the quality of the speakers and their papers.
Several conferences also took place at BITEC during the events. These included:
1. Aquafeed Horizons Asia;
2. FIAAP Animal Nutrition Conference;
3. Petfood Forum Asia;
4. Global Milling Conference with GRAPAS Asia;
5. Biomass Asia; and
6. GMP+ Feed Safety Assurance.
Innovation awards
Victam International marked its 25th anniversary on the first evening of the events with a celebration dinner. More than 400 executives from multiple industries attended and were treated to modern and traditional Thai entertainment. During the celebration dinner, the winners of the Innovation Awards were announced. They were:
1. Huvepharma, Belgium – Animal Feed Technology & Nutrition Award, sponsored/organized by AllAboutFeed.
2. Kemin Industries (Asia) Pte. Ltd., Singapore – The Aquafeed Innovation Award, sponsored/organized by Aquafeed.com.
3. Eye-Grain Apps, Denmark – The GRAPAS Award, sponsored/organized by Milling and Grain magazine.
Leadership transition
During the events in Thailand, van de Bunt announced his retirement, effective July 1. “My one note of sorrow is that as I’m retiring at the end of June, I will not be so involved with the exhibitions in future,” van de Bunt said.
Van de Bunt, who has been with the organization since the first show in Bangkok in 1991, has overseen the event as it has grown by over 600%. He will be joining the board of the Victam Foundation. Van de Bunt will be succeeded by Erik Heemskerk, who will start on June 1. “I wish my successor, Erik Heemskerk, every success in what is a great job.”
Van de Bunt introduced Heemskerk during a press conference.
Heemskerk was most recently the brand director at Growth Markets Pharma bij UBM plc and is managing partner at Htwee Event Marketing BV.
“I am really excited to start my role as GM on June 1. Getting to know and connecting to the industry will be my number one priority as I do not have a background yet in the feed industry. Attending VICTAM Asia has therefore given me a head start by making use of what exhibitions do best: meeting people, talking business, sharing knowledge and insights,” Heemskerk told World Grain in a post-event interview.
“Looking at VICTAM Asia through my 20 years of business-to-business exhibitions experience revealed to me a very well organized, professional and well attended event with lots of activity going on. It is therefore a privilege to pick up and build on everything Henk Van de bunt has contributed to the events.”
Van de bunt also announced that Victam International will debut a new networking event, June 13-14, in Cologne, Germany in 2017. This event will be targeted at senior executives.
It will be called FIAAP, VICTAM & GRAPAS Conferences 2017 and be held at the KoelnMesse international trade fair and exhibition center. The event will be conference-led and co-located with a small expo.
The next FIAAP, VICTAM & GRAPAS event in Asia will be March 27-29, 2018. For more information on these events, go to www.fiaap.com, www.victam.com and
www.grapas.eu.
