22 August 2013 - Twelve companies from the Philippines participated in the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) Food Expo from August 15 to 17 at the Hong Kong Convention Center in Wan Chai under the sponsorship of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The companies were a mix of consolidators and small-and medium-sized enterprises, namely: Association of Benguet Pinoy Brgy-Agri Industrial Center; Brandexport Phil.; Edna & Rebecca's Banana Chips and Coated Peanuts; Fruits of Life, Inc.; Herbanext, Inc.; Lubi Integrated Farming Enterprise, Inc. (Life, Inc.); Organic Certification Center of the Philippines (OCCP) featuring Transnational Diversified Corporation and Amazing Food, Greenminas Corporation; Our Tribe Food Products; Rice Terraces Farmer's Cooperative; Saniata Dragon fruit; Transocean Food Products; and, Tree of Life. The Philippine exhibitors occupied Booth D15 in the 5F lane of the International Trade Hall.
Featured in the Philippine booths were products such as organic rice and organic coffee, jams, herbal tea, strawberry fruit wine, organic coco sugar and coco vinegar, dried mangoes, dessicated coconut, condiments, salted shrimp fry, salted anchovies, canned tuna, muscovado sugar, banana chips, coated peanut, fresh coco water and fresh dragon fruit.
The exhibitors entertained visitors from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on the exhibition dates.
The exhibitors were generally enthusiastic with the exposure they received from the fair. Booked orders reached Php two million from various buyers in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong. Institutional buyers in Hong Kong such as A.S. Watson Ltd (Park N’ Shop) and The Dairy Farm (Wellcome Superstore) visited the Philippine booth. Small scale companies like Our Tribe Food Products (Kalinga coffee) and Lubi Integrated Farming Enterprise (coconut sugar and coconut vinegar) garnered a number of trade inquiries from buyers and fellow exhibitors due to their novelty products. OCCP, which participated in the international fair for the first time and carried certified organic products such as coconut oil, essential oils and coco by-products, also valued their participation and exposure in a mature market such as Hong Kong.
The DA also set up a selling booth at the 3C lane, booth D12 of the Public Hall in cooperation with Mabuhay OFW (Macau) Ltd, a retail chain of Filipino food stores in Macau, which offered a variety of high-end Philippine products such as virgin coconut oil, sardines, dried fruits, and biscuits from August 15 to 19.
Running concurrently with the Food Expo were the HKTDC Hong Kong International Tea Fair and the International Conference & Exhibition of the Modernization of Chinese Medicine and Health Products. The three fairs featured a total of 1,520 exhibitors and attracted over 300,000 visitors. END
