2026 China Fisheries & Seafood Expo Opens in Qingdao with 14 Argentine Exporters, Up from Last Edition
From October 28 to 30, 2026, the China Fisheries & Seafood Expo 2026 is being held in Qingdao. Argentina is participating with a 120-square-meter national pavilion organizing 14 exporting companies, two more than in 2025. China is the top destination for Argentina's fishery exports by value, with exports to China in the first nine months of 2026 totaling about 146,760 tonnes worth US$455.5 million.
On October 28, 2026, the China Fisheries & Seafood Expo 2026 opened in Qingdao and runs through October 30. This year's expo brings together seafood producers, processors, importers, distributors and service providers related to the international seafood trade. According to published figures, the expo features about 1,600 exhibitors from 53 countries, more than 35,000 trade visitors and an exhibition area of nearly 54,750 square meters.
Argentina's fisheries sector is taking part in the expo with a national pavilion. Argentina's participation is organized by PromArgentina (the national promotion agency) and the Federal Fisheries Council (Consejo Federal Pesquero), under the unified "Mar Argentino, salvaje y austral" (Argentine Sea, wild and southern) branding, which had already been used in the previous weeks for the "Argentina Week" B2B event in France and subsequently in Vigo, Spain. At this expo the Argentine side has set up a 120-square-meter pavilion to showcase its products and hold business meetings with international buyers.
A total of 14 Argentine exporting companies are participating in this expo, two more than in 2025. The exhibitors include Achernar, Arbumasa, Argenova, Cabo Vírgenes, Conarpesa, Distribuidora Marechiare, Estrella Patagónica, FAO 41, Iberconsa, Maronti, Red Chamber Argentina, Lanzal, Newsan and Traweluwn.
China occupies an important position among destinations for Argentina's fishery exports. In the first nine months of 2026, Argentina's seafood exports to China totaled about 146,760 tonnes, worth US$455.5 million, equivalent to a quarter of the country's fishery export revenue. By value, China is the top destination for Argentina's fishery exports, slightly above Spain, which purchased about US$448.9 million in the same period. The gap between the two markets in volume is equally clear: exports to China exceeded 146,000 tonnes in the same period, while exports to Spain were about 75,800 tonnes.
Demand in the Chinese market is concentrated in squid and other frozen products. Argentine shortfin squid (Illex argentinus) is one of the main products in Argentina's export supply and maintains important trade links with Asian markets; its sales cover a range of product forms, serving both direct consumption and processing and subsequent distribution.
According to the General Administration of Customs' import and export statistics for August 2026, that month's imports of warm-water shrimp from Argentina (penaeid shrimp, under customs commodity classification HS 0306.17, including whiteleg shrimp, black tiger shrimp and others; this is a commodity classification rather than a single biological species) totaled 340.606 tonnes, worth US$2,743,972.0, at an average price of US$8,056.15 per tonne.
According to information published by the organizers, this year's expo has an exhibition area of nearly 54,750 square meters, about 1,600 exhibitors from 53 countries and more than 35,000 trade visitors. The expo runs through October 30.