Phl breaches sales goal at Germany food fair

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines generated a total of $58.2 million worth of sales from its participation in the Anuga food trade fair held in Germany earlier this month.

“We have surpassed our target sales of $35 million for this year. Also, this year’s total sales is 66 percent higher compared to our sales during the previous edition of the Anuga,” Trade Undersecretary Ponciano Manalo Jr. said in a statement yesterday.

Last year, total sales from the country’s participation in the fair amounted to $35.1 million.

Manalo noted that bulk, or $20.5 million, of the country’s sales from the world’s largest food and beverage fair this year was generated by exhibitors under the recently launched Design for Exports Program for the Food Sector (DEFood), which features seven of the country’s top products.

The DEFood involves product development and branding, food packaging development and enhancement, alignment to market requirements, as well as promotion in local and international markets.

The seven products dubbed as the Philippine Premium 7 include coconut, pineapple, mango, banana, coffee, cacao and tuna.

The products were chosen based on versatility, global demand and strength in exports.

“This program supports small and medium scale food enterprises in developing products that will cater to the premium market. In creating the DEFood’s Philippine Premium 7, our goal is to create and promote a Philippine brand for premium foods,” Manalo said.

The Philippine business delegation to the Anuga trade fair was composed of 18 regular exhibitors and 26 institutional exhibitors under the DEFood.

Among the regular exhibitors, the best-selling products were seafood and marine products such as tuna, sardines and mackerel, with sales for the product category amounting to $13.4 million.

The other popular products were consolidated and assorted Philippine ethnic food such as rice sticks and noodles, vinegar, sauces, mixes, and sautéed shrimp paste, with sales reaching $10.7 million.

“In penetrating the European market, we are concentrating on bulk orders from the manufacturing sector by supplying semi-processed materials for their finished products. We also supply products for established brands,” Manalo said.