F: Victam 2011
A review from Cologne, Germany
V
ictam 2011 brought with it a lot of changes: A change of frequency – being held once every three years to every four years (as the previous one had been held on 2007); a change of localisation from - Utrecht (in The Netherlands) to Cologne, Germany; a change in its appeal - as Fiapp (an exhibition for ingredient and additive manufacturers) and Grapas (an exhibition for flour, pasta and rice milling and general grain processing for foodstuffs) became co-located exhibition following the success of an expanded show at Victam Asia. But the fundamentals were still there: international feed industry, new technology and innovation, meeting with conferences. Paradigm change takeing place With a more convenient localisation to express their growth, the Victam, GRAPAS and FIAPP 2011 shows had been a great success both for exhibitors or visitors. Easy-to-reach by train, air and car, easyto-park, easy-to-lodge in a city which offering enough rooms to accommodate any number of visitors and finally, on local tram lines to accommodate everyone. The change from Utrecht in The Netherlands to Cologne in Germany seems
to have been well accepted by visitors. The only exception to a smooth transfer were some technical issues with regard to the lack of signage to conferences rooms, which the exposition park missed providing. Exhibitors are still evaluating their experiences and expressing their views to the organisation so, over the next few months, more details will be available regarding the success of the change and decisions to be taken with regard to the next European show. Belying the change in location there is a real paradigm change taking place within our indusries: Western Europe is no more the centre of the feed universe, North Africa and Eastern Europe emergence are emerging as strong realities. Without overlooking the development of Middle East and Asia – showing up as either established visitors or exhibitors. The number of Chinese exhibitors has grown remarkably and they are looking for business in Europe and Africa, and not just within the Asian region: Victam Bangkok 2012 - to be held next February - is much more dedicated to be representative of the region. At Victam International in Cologne more than 17 Chineses exhibitors and four other Asian firms exhibited. Even if connected, our industry had seen this direction in growth for Victam
28 | International AquaFeed | July-August 2011
International as early as the 1990s. Now it is much more evident, as it had been clear at the beginning of 2008 in Bangkok during Victam Asia, that a more central European venue for Victam International was necesary.
Big machines – big displays First impressions of the show were that this was the real thing! With real and big machines on display. Visitors wanted to see and to touch and even smell the real thing. The immediate impression was about size: big, big machinery which begs the question, does the feed industry really give any thought to energy cost? Of course not you would think, but just look at Stolz and its work about optimisation of the drying process in connection with the French technical center Tecaliman. There were innovation looking at what might seems minor details as to the repartition of particle size reduction through grinding, as the easiest change of spare parts, through to the cleaning concepts now included on many machines. Another field that appeared to be a common thread throughout the show was on-line control, either to control humidity/ moisture or protein content. If we can easily see the interest in those control measures and the automatic regulation of the process