The Massachusetts Export Center will bring international seafood buyers to New Bedford for twelfth year, with 23 buyers from Asia, Europe and South America expected here on Friday March 4, 2016 to meet with some of the area’s leading seafood companies. Deven Tillman, Programs and Events Manager at the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce said buyers from eight countries and the editor of Seafood Brazil trade magazine will visit the BASE New England Seafood Auction, Northern Wind and Atlantic Red Crab and then tour a vessel at Eastern Fisheries before attending a seafood industry luncheon. The luncheon will be featuring New Bedford City Council President Linda M. Morad and Dr. Kevin Stokesbury, Professor and Chair of the Department of Fisheries Oceanography at UMASS Dartmouth, who will deliver a presentation on the sea scallop resource in a changing environment.

Countries represented by buyers on the tour include France, Germany, Brazil, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Vietnam and Hong Kong. The international visitors will be in Massachusetts for the 2016 Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America, which is held in Boston and is the largest seafood trade event in North America.

Food Export -Northeast, a non-profit export promotion organization, will sponsor the visit of the foreign buyers specifically to promote northeastern U.S. seafood exports. Food Export USA has also partnered with local export development organizations, led by the Massachusetts Export Center, to introduce the buyers to local seafood suppliers in New Bedford. The tour represents the twelfth annual visit of international seafood buyers to the New Bedford area organized by the Massachusetts Export Center, part of the state’s Small Business Development Center Network. The Export Center provides a broad range of services to Massachusetts exporters and operates a New Bedford office based out of the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce.

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