A trade show in the ascendancy

The show takes place with an additional new hall, meaning that the show will utilise the full capacity of the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center. Pet Fair Asia 2016 will be preceded by the International Pet Industry Summit on August 17. Last year around 700 exhibitors occupied a floor area of 55 000 m2, and the organiser aims to drive growth by opening an additional 17 000 m2 hall. In the post-show report in 2015 it was revealed that the show's surface area has grown by 300 per cent in 5 years.
In terms of visitors, the 2015 show was busier than ever and the exhibition centre started to show some limits in terms of capacity: with 21 346 professionals visiting the event during the first two days, the six-metre wide alleys sometimes felt like narrow corridors at rush hour.

While Chinese brands, distributors, factories and exporters represented an important part of the show, leading brands from all over the world were all exhibiting again at Pet Fair Asia: Mars, Royal Canin, Nestle Purina, Eukanuba, Flexi, Pet Safe, Fish 4 Dogs, Julius K9, Petio, Doggyman, United Pets, Urine Off, The Company of Animals, Touchdog, Natural Balance Pet Foods, etc. Present for the first time in an exhibition for Asian markets were companies from Europe and the USA like Martin Sellier (France), Terra Canis (Germany), FoodScience Corp. (USA) and many more. Country pavilions are also developing at a fast rate, with two newcomers in 2015: Taiwan and South Korea. 

Overseas visitors are on the rise and now represent 16 per cent of professionals attending the show, with a fast-growing number of visitors coming from other Asian countries. South Korean buyers now represent the greatest number of overseas visitors, followed by professionals from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand. The new aquarium section introduced in 2015 brought a rapid influx of visitors from Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and the Middle East.

The purchasing power of European and American buyers is also increasing, with hand-picked visitors from large speciality retail chains (PetSmart, Fressnapf, Petland, Kiwoko) and hypermarkets (Carrefour, Walmart).
On the other hand, the public days attracted close to 61,000 visitors, a figure that was also above the…