Conxemar as a Barometer for the Frozen Food Sector: What Is Changing in Breaded Products
Conxemar has established itself as one of the leading international meeting points for the frozen seafood industry. Its next edition will take place from 6 to 8 October 2026 in Vigo, once again bringing together companies and professionals from across the entire value chain.
For Frumen, attending this event as a visitor represents an opportunity to closely observe how the market is evolving, which products are gaining prominence and what new needs may emerge around breaded and coated foods.
Because for a breadcrumb supplier, understanding the market is not simply about analysing the ingredient. It also means understanding what is happening with the products in which that ingredient is used.
Conxemar, a Window into the Evolution of Frozen Products
The importance of Conxemar goes beyond its role as a specialised trade fair. The event brings together a significant part of the value chain related to seafood and frozen products, making it possible to directly observe how the products reaching the market are evolving.
The 2025 edition welcomed 30,405 visitors and 812 exhibitors from 46 countries, according to figures published by the organisers. In 2026, Conxemar will once again provide an international meeting point focused on innovation, trade and the evolution of aquatic food products.
From the perspective of a breadcrumb supplier, this context is particularly interesting.
The final product makes it possible to identify changes that can later influence ingredient development. New formats, different finishes, convenience products or products designed for different channels may also create new requirements for coating systems.
For this reason, visiting a specialised trade fair allows us to analyse the market backwards from the finished product.
What is the manufacturer trying to achieve? What kind of experience do they want to offer consumers? What will the coating need to do to support that evolution?
These are questions that can provide valuable insight for future developments.
From Frozen Fish to Prepared Products: New Opportunities for Coating
The frozen seafood market is not limited to raw materials sold without further processing. The category increasingly includes ready-to-prepare solutions designed to make consumption easier, ranging from fillets and portions to breaded products, snacks and ready-to-cook preparations.
This evolution has a direct consequence: the coating takes on greater responsibility for the final result.
In a breaded product, consumers do not perceive only the fish or seafood. They also notice the outer appearance, the texture, how crispy it is and how the product performs during preparation.
For manufacturers, this makes coating a highly relevant part of product development.
Breadcrumbs must integrate correctly with the rest of the breading system and perform under the expected production, freezing, storage and preparation conditions.
As a result, the evolution of frozen products also creates new questions for specialised ingredient suppliers.
Texture as a Differentiating Factor in Breaded Products
Texture is one of the aspects that can most clearly differentiate two products made from a similar raw material.
In breaded products, breadcrumb particle size and structure can help define the sensory experience.
A finer finish can create a different perception from a coating made with larger particles. Likewise, some applications may seek a light texture, while others may require a more visually pronounced coating.
This does not mean that there is one universally better particle size.
The choice depends on the product, the process and the result the manufacturer wants to achieve.
For this reason, for a breadcrumb supplier, observing how market products evolve is useful for identifying which characteristics may become more important in future developments.
Convenience: When Frozen Products Need to Make Consumption Easier
Convenience is another major factor shaping the development of prepared foods.
For consumers, a frozen product can offer speed, ease of preparation and availability. For manufacturers, this means designing foods capable of delivering a satisfactory result after different cooking methods.
In breaded products, this issue directly affects the coating.
Breadcrumb performance can vary depending on whether the product is intended for frying, oven cooking or other preparation methods. Requirements may also differ depending on whether the food is marketed for retail or foodservice.
For this reason, innovation does not necessarily mean creating a completely new breadcrumb. In many cases, it means adapting its characteristics to a new way of consuming the product.
What Can a Breadcrumb Supplier Observe at a Trade Fair Like Conxemar?
Attending as a visitor makes it possible to focus on aspects that do not always appear in a technical data sheet, including:
- Which categories of breaded products have the strongest presence.
- Which formats manufacturers are using.
- Which visual finishes are being sought.
- How products aimed at retail and foodservice are presented.
- How important texture is becoming.
- Which preparation methods are communicated to consumers.
- Which opportunities are emerging for new developments.
The value lies in detecting signals that, when combined with technical knowledge and accumulated experience working with manufacturers, can help guide future developments.
The Challenge of Maintaining Performance from the Factory to the Consumer
In frozen products, the result observed on the production line is not necessarily the same result the consumer will experience.
Between those two points, the product may go through several stages: freezing, storage, transport, distribution and preparation.
The coating system must be designed with this entire journey in mind.
Adhesion, coating stability, texture and final appearance must respond to the specific conditions of the product. This is why choosing a breadcrumb supplier should involve more than simply evaluating the characteristics of the ingredient as it leaves the factory.
There must be alignment between product, process, coating and preparation method.
This approach is particularly relevant in the frozen food sector, where the production and distribution chain is inseparable from the final product.
From Market Insight to Development: Why Listening to the Sector Is Part of Innovation
Food innovation does not necessarily begin in a laboratory.
It can also begin by observing a product, identifying a new need or recognising a change in the way consumers use a particular category.
Professional trade fairs provide precisely this kind of direct contact with the market.
For Frumen, attending Conxemar as a visitor is an opportunity to closely follow the evolution of the frozen seafood sector and analyse how requirements related to breadcrumbs and coating systems may change.
This information can complement development work and help us design solutions that are more closely aligned with real applications.
Our Visit to Conxemar: Observing in Order to Keep Developing
At Frumen, we will attend Conxemar 2026 as visitors with the aim of staying close to the evolution of the sector and seeing first-hand the products, formats and needs that are shaping the future of the frozen food industry.
For us, being present at a trade fair such as Conxemar is not simply about attending a professional event.
As a breadcrumb supplier, we believe it is essential to observe how our customers’ products and the wider market are evolving in order to better understand the new challenges that coating systems will need to address.
Innovation often begins with observation: understanding what consumers are looking for, which new formats are emerging and what requirements the industry is creating allows us to anticipate needs and work on more suitable solutions.
Conxemar will be an opportunity to analyse an industry that is constantly evolving and transform that knowledge into new development opportunities.
Because before defining a solution, we need to understand what the product needs and how the breadcrumbs must perform in order to achieve the desired result.
Are you developing a new breaded product for the frozen food sector?
At Frumen, we analyse each application to develop breadcrumb solutions tailored to the product, the process and the final result you want to achieve.
Discover our industrial solutions.
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