by RD Velasco
Published in Business Mirror
18 July 2017
In Photo: EMB Director Senen M. Perlada (fourth from left) of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau speaks with visitors of the booth of KSK Food Products, a Philippine participant during the Thaifex World of Food Asia held from May 30 to June 4 in Bangkok, Thailand.
DUBBED as the “Kitchen of the World”, Thailand enjoys the continuous growth of its food-production and -processing sector because of its investment and continuous research and development (R&D) in the food and related sectors, specifically packaging and labeling.
For this reason, The Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Bangkok, Thailand, organized an Outbound Business Mission (OBM) for food packaging and labeling in conjunction with the Philippine participation in Thaifex—World of Food Asia held from May 30 to June 4 in that city.
The OBM included several visits to packaging institutions, R&D institutes, food processors and traditional and contemporary retail-distribution channels to learn how Thailand developed its food-product packaging technology.
EMB Director Senen M. Perlada met with officials of the Thai Packaging Centre, a R&D institution for packaging; Thai Packaging Association, a business-support organization; and faculty members of the Department of Packaging and Materials in Kasetsart University. He noted that “the food-packaging and -labeling industry has been relatively successful in Thailand because of the tight linkage among its stakeholders in the private sector, the government and the academe.”
Meanwhile, the EMB, the PTIC-Bangkok and the Philippine Food Exporters Confederation have partnered to organize the Philippine participation in this year’s edition of Thaifex, the largest food and beverage trade fair for exporters in Thailand that attracts international buyers from all over the world, making it a good avenue of international exposure for Philippine food products.
The Philippine Pavilion featured 22 companies, namely, Agrinurture Inc., Brandexports Philippines Inc., Celebes Coconut Corp., Eau De Coco, Fisher Farms Inc., Ksk Food Products, Kwality Philfood Inc., Mama Sita’s (Marigold Manufacturing Corp.), Marikina Food Corp., Mega Global Corp., Pixcel Transglobal Foods Inc., Q Phil Products International, See’s International Food Manufacturing Corp., Sinlikas Import-Export Packaging Packaging Inc., SL Agritech Corp., Super Q, Universal Canning Inc., WL Foods, Yearluck Food And Industrial Corp., Glorious Industrial And Development Corp. and La Carlota Food Enterprise.
As of date, they have generated combined indicative sales of at least $21 million (P1.05 billion) during the five-day exhibition.
Thaifex 2017 featured around 2,000 exhibitors from over 40 countries and registered an attendance of around 55,000 visitors from 130 countries, a 30-percent increase from last year.