Local firms to join largest food industry fair in the world

A number of local food manufacturers will participate in the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) Show the largest and most comprehensive international food industry event of its kind in the world.

This marks the first time Philippine companies will join the FMI Show this year which will be held in May at Chicago, Illinois.

The Philippine participants include Alliance Tuna International (canned tuna), Mega Fishing Corp. (canned sardines, pouched and bottled sardines), Oceanic Exports Inc. (fruit preserve, noodles, fruit wines, food supplements), Oriental Synergies (tropical fruit wines), RFM Corp. (dry baking mixes, flour, other baking products, fruit drinks and teas, milk, ice cream), See’s International Food Manufacturing Corp. (Variety pack chips, dried fruit), and Superstar Coconut Products Co. Inc. (bread crumbs and mixes, baking coconut and toppings).  

The local companies’ participation in the food fair came about as a follow-up event to the Philippine Food Business Mission to the US East and West Coasts on Nov. 2004, as the US mainstream market continues to be a vital goal for Philippine food exports.   

The Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) organized the Philippine participation in an attempt to further promote locally manufactured food products in the US.

"Although this is our first time to participate in the FMI Show, we are confident that we will gain the interest of the US buyers through our fresh and quality food products," said Trade Assistant Secretary and CITEM executive director Felicitas Agoncillo-Reyes.  

"Convenience, which includes extreme portability and one-handed eating and drinking, is one of the US’ major food trends that the Philippines can definitely cater,"  Reyes noted.

Research shows that convenience is one of the key factors that attract American consumers, based from the growing numbers of youth who take their snack while driving and busy people who do not have much time in preparing their meals.  

According to Reyes convenience food, along with processed food, is a multi-billion-peso industry in the Philippines. 

In 2006, the country exported a total of $923 million worth of processed and convenience food last year, 10 percent more than the previous year. In the US alone, the country shipped $ 305 million worth of food.

To date, the Philippines is one of the world’s major tuna exporters and its fertile lands make it one of the world’s largest producers of coconuts. It also produces more than one-third of the world’s copra and is the only Asian country that ranks among the top global banana exporters.