Local, foreign firms swamp Agrilink & Foodlink 2003

Local and foreign firms are swamping Agrilink and Foodlink 2003, the country’s biggest and most prestigious international agribusiness and food trade show, which will be held at the World Trade Center Metro Manila on Oct. 16 to 18.

These corporate exhibitors included Sime Darby Industries Inc., Belmont, Northern Foods Corp. and Diconex (Phils.) Inc., among many others.

Sime Darby is the exclusive distributor of Ford New Holland agricultural tractors, spare parts and implements.

New Holland is the former Ford and remains to be the brand of tractor that Filipino farmers are most familiar with in terms of quality, performance and after-sales service reliability.

Despite the new look and environment-friendly features of New Holland’s latest TS90 model, 70 percent of the components are common with those of its preceding models such that spare parts are in ample supply, resulting in lesser downtime and high efficiency output.

Similarly, Belmont deals in equipment, specifically for poultry, livestock, bulk grain handling and storage, and feedmilling. Its poultry and livestock equipment include incubators (Jamesway), automatic pan feeders (Chore-time), feed bins, chain feeders, plastic tube feeders, bell drinkers, infrared gas brooders (Alke), plastic slat flooring broiler hauling crates (Giordano), automated layer cages, poultry dressing plant (Linco), Auger feed delivery system, dry and wet feeders, feed bins, nipple drinker (Monoflo), tunnel ventilation, and slaughter facilities.

On the other hand, Diconex is the supplier of Crystallac skimmed milk replacer, Millbond TX toxin binder, Palafeed, and special Menhapen fishmeal, among others.

Another interesting exhibitor is the Northern Foods Corp. (NFC), an agribased firm established in 1984 by the Livelihood Corp. (Livecor), a government-owned and controlled company and an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture.

NFC has a daily processing capacity of 500 tons of fresh tomatoes and sources out its raw materials from 3,000 farmers in Ilocos Norte and Sur, producing an average of 4,500 metric tons of tomato paste annually.

Its customers include fishfarmers, sauce and catsup manufacturers/toll packers, fast food chains, and producers of canned good that use tomato paste.

Also participating in Agrilink/Foodlink 2003 are local industry giants Monsanto Philippines Inc., General Milling Corp. subsidiary General Agri-Foods International Inc., SMFIB-MEG, and Jeida Farm Supply Corp.

To accommodate the surge in the number of this year’s exhibitors, Agrilink and Foodlink will have all of the 8,100 square meters of World Trade Center’s indoor exhibit space allocated for trade display and wholesale transaction alone.

The retail trade and technology seminars are to be conducted in a 2,400-sqm airconditioned tent and the 1,000-sqm outdoor exhibit area.

This means a whopping 11,500 sqm of total merchandising space for various business transactins, indicating the ever-growing number of Agrilink and Foodlink visitors.

Local and foreign technical experts from the United States, Europe and Asia have also been invited to share their know-how in various aspects of food and agribusiness.

Globally popular, Agrilink and Foodlink are geared to open up new markets and other business opportunities for local and foreign firms and entrepreneurs.

Other information can be obtained from event organizer Foundation for Resource Linkage and Development (tel. 8384549, 8384852; fax 8384573, or email [email protected]).