The World Meat Forum: a business and institutional networking space to take advantage of opportunities in Japan, Canada, Vietnam and the Phillippines.

The 4th edition of Meat Attraction promotes the World Meat Forum, which will present the business opportunities and commercial challenges that exist in the countries invited to this edition: Japan, Canada, Vietnam and the Philippines . Organised by ICEX Spain Export and Investment, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Anice and Meat Attraction, the Forum will be held over four sessions between 9th and 15th February.

The first day, 9th February, will be devoted to the Japanese market. After the Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Japan was signed in 2018, new opportunities have opened up for the Spanish meat sector in this important market.

The progressive opening for products such as beef can be exploited by our companies. As a result, the session will address issues such as regulatory conditions for access to the Japanese market, with Daniel Cascales, Deputy Director General of International Merchandise Trade -MINCOTUR- , and Emilio García Muro, Deputy Director General of Sanitary Agreements and Border Control -MAPA-. On the other hand, opportunities for the meat sector in the Japanese market will be discussed, with a talk by Fernando Hernández, Economic and Commercial Advisor for Spain in Tokyo, along with a Japanese importer and a Spanish company with a presence in the Japanese market.

On 10th February the event will focus on Canada. In recent years, the meat market in this country has maintained a high per capita consumption which, although it decreased slightly with the pandemic, has shown an upward trend since 2016. Furthermore, if we compare this average annual consumption to that of other countries such as Spain, we see that it practically doubles ours. Initiatives such as the biannual "Meat with European quality" campaign financed by the European Union and the CETA trade agreement between the EU and Canada do nothing but favour the predisposition of Canadian professionals and consumers to open up to the consumption of meat from the EU, with the highest standards of quality, safety and animal welfare.

In this seminar, the opportunities presented to Spanish companies in the Canadian market will be analysed and some of the key points that should inspire the market access strategy will be reflected upon. Daniel Cascales will participate again, together with Rafael de la Haza Alcántara, Supervisor for the General Subdirectorate of Sanitary Agreements and Border Control -MAPA-, Carlos Gómez, Economic and Commercial Advisor for Spain in Toronto, and Javier I. Millán, owner of CanDisPro Corporation.

On Monday 14th February, Vietnam will be the focus. The Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Vietnam, which has been in force since 1st August 2020, opens up new opportunities for the Spanish meat sector in this market. Spanish companies must exploit the progressive opening of the market for the different sub-sectors, given that the emerging middle class is beginning to demand products that stand out for their value for money, positioning the Spanish offer above those of other countries. 

In this sense, an in-depth knowledge about how the sector operates and the specific needs of Vietnamese meat importers is essential. To meet this need, there will be representatives from the Spanish administration at origin (Carmen Martín Franco, Supervisor for the General Subdirectorate for Sanitary Agreements and Border Control of MAPA, and Daniel Cascales from MINCOTUR), and destination (Néstor Franco, Economic and Commercial Advisor for Spain in Ho Chi Minh City), as well as from companies familiar with the Vietnamese meat market: Antoine de la Mardiere, Director of Operations at Classic Fine Foods, and Sorin Curelea, Export Manager at B&M Foods.

Finally, the Philippines will have its day on Tuesday 15th February. Spain obtained the accreditation allowing beef to be exported to the Philippines in 2020, as well as the renewal of the pork certification that it already had since 2002. This fact is a great opportunity for Spanish companies, since the Philippines is a growing market: even during the current Covid-19 crisis, imports have only increased, indicating that the market is growing.

It is time for Spanish companies to seize this opportunity to penetrate new markets. With pork meat, it has been proven that the Philippine market knows how to appreciate the quality and competitive prices of Spanish meat. So much so that Spain was the largest supplier of pork to the Philippines in 2019, and this country became the fourth most important market outside of the EU for Spanish pork products.

During this conference, Daniel Cascales from MINCOTUR and Olga Baniandrés Rodríguez, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for Southeast Asia -MAPA- will take part, as well as Silvia Torices, Economic and Commercial Advisor for Spain in Manila; Jess Cham, president of MITA (Meat Importers Trade Association) and a representative of a Spanish company. 

All the conferences will be inaugurated by María Naranjo, Food Industry director at ICEX, María José Sánchez, Director of Meat Attraction, and Miguel Huerta, Secretary General of ANICE. There will be a discussion in each of the meetings at the end.

The fourth edition of Meat Attraction will be held from 8th to 10th March at IFEMA Madrid under the slogan " a date with the best meat in the world". The fair has already established itself as a sector tool with high commercial value serving the meat industry to boost its positioning, national and international business development, growth and visibility.