The queues you won’t see any time soon. China Fish 2021 is postponed yet again

A major spike in COVID-19 infections has caused yet another cancellation of China Fish, one of the world’s most important tackle trade shows.

The event, which has not taken place for two years, was due to be held in a physical/virtual format in October in Beijing, but the organiser confirmed last week that its latest attempt to stage it in 2021 has had to be abandoned. A spokesperson for China Fish said the recent increase in infections had made it impossible to run the event. However, she added that it was hopeful it would be able to release details of a ‘new kind’ of virtual China Fish show in the forthcoming weeks.

Health authorities in Beijing announced the cancellation of all large-scale exhibitions and events during the latter stages of August following the rapid spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19.

China Fish was the first major fishing tackle trade show to fall victim to the pandemic when the 2020 event was cancelled soon after the outbreak. This was followed by similar action being taken by the organisers of the ICAST (USA), EFTTEX (Europe), AFTA (Australia) and IFTD (USA) trade shows and the vast majority of consumer fishing events throughout the world.

ICAST, the world’s largest show of its kind, resumed successfully this year. EFTTEX, IFTD and AFTA each announced cancellations for the second year in 2021.

The China Fish event in October was due to feature Chinese companies in a physical show at the New International Exhibition Centre in Beijing. However, because of a ban on international visitors to China, buyers from outside the country were invited to take part in a virtual event where representatives of exhibiting companies would be on hand to deal with any enquiries.