Would-be buyers eat up PH exhibits at Winter Fancy Food Show
Prospective importers flock to the Philippine Pavilion at Moscone Center in San Francisco during the Winter Fancy Food Show. PHOTOS BY JUN NUCUM
SAN FRANCISCO — Filipino food producers struck a scrumptious presence at the recent Winter Fancy Food Show here at the Moscone Convention Center.
Food Philippines, the collective brand for the 17 exhibiting homegrown enterprises, offered premium-quality specialty food products.
The Philippine products ranged from processed fruits, frozen and canned tuna, ethnic food, condiments, sauces and mixes and snacks, according to Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the export promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Happy tasters at the Philippine pavilion Charles and Rose Finkel, owners of Pike Brewery in Seattle.
Trade Commissioner Nicanor Bautista declared that the Philippines 2016 food show participation was a record year with Filipino specialty food products and their socially responsible methods getting the attention of importers,
Promising market
“A total of 540 inquiries and negotiated sales amounting to over US$44 million signify a promising market in the West Coast,” Bautista announced.
The best-selling products included virgin coconut oil (VCO), coconut sugar, frozen tuna, banana chips, frozen saba, organic muscovado sugar, upland rice and japonica rice and sea salts.
“Buyers were mostly looking for natural, organic, fair trade and healthy products in internationally accepted packaging, which the Food Philippines pavilion offered,” Bautista said.
From all indications, the 41st World Fancy Food Show (WFFS) 2016 was a mouth-watering success, with close to 20,000 potential buyers eyeing 1,500 exhibitors.
Attendance enjoyed a 16 percent increase from last year and there were more than a thousand new product launches by almost a hundred first-time exhibitors. Retailer participation rose almost 40 percent from last year.
As a result of the impressive performance of the Filipino exhibitors and their specialty food products, CITEM is considering joining the Summer Fancy Food Show on June 2016 in New York City to continue positioning the Philippines as a source of high-value, fresh, healthy and natural food products.
The Philippines exhibited organic and fair trade products at the Winter Fancy Food Show.
Philippine San Francisco Consul-General Henry Bensurto Jr. noted much improvement in the layout of the Philippine pavilion as well as in the packaging of products, making them more competitive with ASEAN rivals like Thailand.
Inclusive growth promotion
Commissioner Bautista stressed that when Filipino products are bought, the least developed communities in the Philippines benefit “because pushing for food and agriculture products from the Philippines is the best way to promote inclusive growth.”
“The foods that were exhibited in the food show came from as far Cordillera up north all the way General Santos in Mindanao,” Bautista explained. “These products are processed, produced and harvested by communities in the least developed areas of our country.
“We also promote fair trade, fair employment and we treat our natural resources in a more sustainable manner that may lure processing investors into the Philippines.”
Bautista also believes in trying to access the bigger mainstream markets by meeting the stringent U.S. standards and projecting Filipino food as a global product. He admits that at the moment the bulk of products are geared for the Filipino market.
“To be able to penetrate the mainstream market, we are concentrating on organic food, on specialty food like sea salt, organic sugar, organic virgin coconut oil, etc. We are also seeing applications for organic sugar, organic coconut products, tuna products (processed and fresh), processed fruit products, among other,” Bautista explained.
Impressed
Rose Ann and Charles Finkel who own Pike Brewery and restaurant in Seattle, Washington, were impressed with the exhibits in the Philippine pavilion.
San Francisco Philippine Consulate officials (left to right) Deputy Consul Jaime Ascalon and wife, Cecille, CITEM Marketing Officer Victoria Arellano, Consul-General Henry Bensurto Jr and wife, Mariz, Wencisly Bautista and husband, Trade Commissioner Nicanor Bautista, welcomed guests to the Philippine Food pavilion.
“The Philippine products offered are very interesting. We tasted coconut sugar, coconut milk that can be reconstituted, coconut vinegar, coconut soy sauce, salt in a coconut shell, and we loved it,” Rose Ann exclaimed.
“We may be able to use some of the products here for our business. It is the first time that I have tasted this many foods from the Philippines and we are very impressed absolutely. The quality is outstanding.”
Her husband, Charles agreed saying that they are now seriously considering how the products they tasted can be integrated in what they are doing.
“We are very amazed with the Philippine exhibits here,” Charles said. “And this is not the first time I was impressed for I saw some awesome advertisements in Japan for Philippine products. The Philippines is promotion-minded apparently and this can help push their products.”
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