BANGKOK, THAILAND — FIAAP, VICTAM & GRAPAS Asia 2016, held March 29-31 at the BITEC venue in Bangkok, Thailand, was a sold out event, and 11% larger than the 2014 show, organizers said. There were 223 exhibitors and co-exhibitors from 28 countries showing a wide range of products.

In all, there were 6,374 visitors, an all-time high for this show, and an increase of 5% from the 2014 event. Many of the visitors, about 40%, were from outside Thailand.

The conferences during the event included:
1. Aquafeed Horizons Asia
2. FIAAP Animal Nutrition Conference
3. Petfood Forum Asia
4. Global Milling Conference with GRAPAS Asia
5. Biomass Asia
6. GMP+ Feed Safety Assurance

The conference organizers said the delegates appreciated the quality of the speakers and their papers..

Victam International BV, the event organizers, also arranged the 2nd ASEAN Feed and Rice Symposium. Speakers from IFIF, ADM, the Thai department of Livestock Development and FAO addressed the 100 attendees of senior international executives from the ASEAN feed and rice industries.
Once again, the ASEAN Feed Summit was organized and funded by the Victam Foundation and hosted by the Thai Feed Mill Association. The summit 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 towardregulatory harmonization, and standards development to facilitate trade and production at regional and international level. 
Victam also celebrated its 25th anniversary of events in Asia, with a dinner on the first evening attended by more than 400 executives from the industry. During the celebration dinner the winners of the Innovation Awards were announced.

The winners were:
1. Animal Feed Technology & Nutrition Award, won by Huvepharma, Belgium.
2. The Aquafeed Innovation Award, won by Kemin Industries (Asia) Pte. Ltd., Singapore.
3. The GRAPAS Award, won by Eye-Grain Apps, Denmark.

During the event, Henk van de Bunt, Victam’s general manager, announced his retirement, effective July 1. Van de Bunt, who has been with the organization since the first show in Bangkok in 1991, has seen the event grow 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.

The next FIAAP, VICTAM & GRAPAS event in Asia will be March 27-29, 2018. A new event, FIAAP, VICTAM & GRAPAS Conferences 2017, organized by Victam, will take place in Cologne, Germany June 13-14, 2017 at the KoelnMesse.
For more information on these events, go to:  www.fiaap.com, www.victam.com and www.grapas.eu.