International Impact at THAIFEX-World of Food Asia 2016

Asia’s most comprehensive food and beverage show with the largest display of products and services from around the world

(L-R) Mr Isara Vongkusolkit, Chairman of The Thai Chamber of Commerce; Mrs Malee Choklumlerd, Director General, the Department of International Trade Promotion; Mrs Apiradi Tantraporn, Minister of Commerce; Dr Somkid Jatusripitak, Deputy Prime Minister; Mr Sompol Kiatphaibool, Advisor to the Minister of Commerce; Miss Chutima Bunyapraphasara, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Commerce; Mr Michael Dreyer, Managing Director and Vice President, Asia Pacific, Koelnmesse Pte Ltd and Ambassador Peter Prügel, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.

(Bangkok, 25 May, 2016) – THAIFEX-World of Food Asia 2016, Asia’s leading food and beverage show, opened its doors today to welcome food and beverage industry professionals from all over the world at IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Organised by the world’s biggest trade fair organiser Koelnmesse Pte Ltd in partnership with the Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) and The Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC), the 13th edition of THAIFEX-World of Food Asia showcases a truly international selection of exhibitors, innovative products, celebrity baristas and aspiring chefs, as well as the latest food and beverage trends.

The opening ceremony was graced by Guest-of-Honour Dr Somkid Jatusripitak, Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister.

A Global Approach

Over the past 12 years, THAIFEX-World of Food Asia has grown from strength to strength. 2016 marks the highest number of exhibitors to date with the participation of 1,919 exhibitors from 40 countries. International participation has also seen a boost with a 18% growth from 2015 to 955 foreign companies, reaching an equal proportion of international and local exhibitors. Adding to this positive growth and making their show debut are new exhibitor country groups like Cambodia, Chile, India, Indonesia, Norway.

The 2016 edition is THAIFEX-World of Food Asia’s most impactful one yet, expanding across the road to occupy a total of seven halls. This year’s record-breaking 80,000 sqm of exhibition space, up by 10,000 sqm, is a reflection of the growing international success and popularity of THAIFEX-World of Food Asia. Expecting 38,000 trade visitors this year, an 8% growth from 2015, THAIFEX-World of Food Asia promises to be the ideal platform for regional and international food importers and exporters to connect with trade visitors from Asia and worldwide.

Mr Michael Dreyer, Managing Director and Vice President, Asia Pacific, Koelnmesse Pte Ltd said, “This year’s show is our most impactful one yet. A larger exhibition space accommodates for the largest gathering of international and local exhibitors we have ever seen. This is another affirmation from the industry that THAIFEX-World of Food Asia maintains its position as the global player in the food and beverage industry by connecting Asia to the world. This also confirms that Thailand is the ideal hub for the food and beverage industry and the perfect home to THAIFEX-World of Food Asia.”

THAIFEX-World of Food Asia 2016 is proud to welcome Germany as its 4th official Partner Country. Organised by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, this collaboration enables Germany to promote an array of outstanding specialities unique to Germany.

“This year‘s Partner Country is significant to Koelnmesse, which is headquartered in Germany. We are thrilled to see that Germany has increased its pavilion size in order to accommodate and showcase a plethora of innovative German products including the famed WHAPOW’s frozen superfood purees, Wolf’s meat-free vegetarian sausages made from egg white and Zoller-Hof artisanal craft beer,“ he added.

Commerce Minister Mrs Apiradi Tantraporn said the food industry is one of Thailand‘s high-potential industries. She said, “With a robust agricultural base, the country has abundant agricultural produce that is turned into raw material in the food industry, which brings in major income for more than 10 million people in farming households and rural communities. With modern technology, the food industry helps increase the value of agricultural produce.”

She added, “Thailand exports food products to more than 200 countries. Thai foods are among the world’s top five exported foods – rice, processed chicken, canned and processed seafood, frozen and processed prawns, and seasoning. The value of food products and processed agricultural products reaches more than 800 billion baht per year. The industry has not only strengthened Thailand’s food stability but has also enabled the country to become the food production base in the ASEAN region.”

“The state’s policy to make Thailand the Kitchen of the World and the ASEAN leader in food production as well as expanding investment channels in the world market will help steer the country’s food industry to sustainable growth. The Department of International Trade Promotion will move forward in pushing exports of Thai food products, including the food service businesses, so that they enjoy continuous growth in the world market,” she elaborated.

“THAIFEX – World of Food Asia, organized by the Department of International Trade Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce in alliance with the private sector, The Thai Chamber of Commerce and Koelnmesse of Germany, plays a significant role in helping to create venues and trade opportunities for Thai food operators, which is an important strategy in pushing and developing trade expansion in new potential markets. The move also promotes Thailand’s competitiveness and expands export markets in line with government policies. Thai products have been widely accepted by the world community, especially our food products that make up the world’s top five exported foods,” the Minister of Commerce said.

Mr Isara Vongkusolkit, Chairman, The Thai Chamber of Commerce said, “THAIFEX-World of Food Asia 2016 has been a success due to the continued trilateral cooperation between the Department of International Trade Promotion, Koelnmesse Pte Ltd and The Thai Chamber of Commerce. As a private business chamber, we believe it is essential to support the great efforts of the government on such a worldly event, which in turn helps to boost Thailand’s economy. This year, we see participants come to Thailand from all types of food industries, including upstream, midstream and downstream. The show is the optimal platform for these participants to showcase food services, technologies, standards and innovations.”

Culinary Showdowns

Asia’s largest chef competition is back and breaking record, exceeding last year’s entries with 1,046 aspiring chefs from 11 countries. This year, Thailand Ultimate Chef Challenge, organised by Thailand Culinary Academy, World Association of Chef’s Societies (WACS) and Koelnmesse, introduces a new category ‘Bakery & Pastry Challenge’ to its existing 22 classes. A panel of 30 internationally-acclaimed chefs including 26 WACS approved judges, will critique the aspiring chefs based on a number of criteria.

Hosted by ASEAN Coffee Federation, Singapore Coffee Association, Barista Association of Thailand and Koelnmesse, this year’s highly anticipated interactive Celebrity Coffee Bar, presented under the World of Coffee & Tea, brings together 16 of the world’s best baristas and judges, including three world barista champions with the likes of Japan’s Hidenori Izaki (World Barista Champion 2014), Greece’s Stefanos Domatiotis (World Brewers Cup Champion 2014) and George Koustoumpardis (World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion 2015). These celebrity baristas will go head-to-head as they perform their skills in a series of LIVE and on-demand demonstrations and workshops.

The biggest gathering of the coffee & tea industry in Thailand also features two world barista champions, Stefanos Domatiotis and George Koustoumpardis, who are part of Ninety Plus Coffee’s taste-maker programme. They will be using Ninety Plus Coffee for the first time at THAIFEX-World of Food Asia; one of the world’s most expensive brews retailing at US$100 per cup.

In addition, visitors can gain valuable knowledge and insights from industry insiders from True Artisan Cafe by La Marzocco and Boncafe Training Sessions. Creativity will be heightened at the annual CTI Latte Art Duel as it returns for another exciting competition.

Global Connectivity At Its Best

THAIFEX-World of Food Asia 2016 is the mecca for business opportunities and networking sessions in the food and beverage industry. It provides a platform for business matching and educational seminars through World of Food Safety Conferences and the Asian Food Franchising Forum. These informative programmes feature world-class professionals and experts who will share the latest food-related innovations and trends on Food Safety and Franchising. Over 100 CEOs and top management from global corporations like Cargill Meats (Thailand), McDonald’s, Sakae, General Mills, and Tesco will present key research and case studies.

Epicentre For World Food Trends

THAIFEX-World of Food Asia is at the forefront of innovation when it comes to trends and products. In partnership with Innova Market Insights, the event’s official knowledge partner, THAIFEX-World of Food Asia prides itself on identifying industry trends through THAIFEX Trend Zone and Trend Topics.

The Trend Zone will focus on hot topic issues driving the food and beverage industry. It includes ‘clean label’, ‘free-from movements’ and the ‘flexitarian effect’. This display area provides trade visitors with informative booklets on top consumer trends and important insights on new product developments. INNOVA Market Insights representatives will be on-hand to answer queries.

To make show navigation easier, THAIFEX-World of Food Asia has not only finely segmented the fairground into 14 segments to clearly demarcate product zoning, but have also identified exhibitors via Trend Topics. These include industry trends which have strong representation in segments like Halal, Health & Functional Foods, Private Label and Ingredients. Of the 11 trend topics, 80% are new to THAIFEX-World of Food Asia, such as Finger Food, Franchise, Gluten-Free, Ingredients, Kosher, Private Label, Vegan and Vegetarian. The show also sees a growing number of companies in new emerging trends like Halal with 466 exhibitors, Health & Functional Food with 293 and Private Label with 286. New trends observed also include Gluten Free with 41 exhibitors and Vegan with 60.

With the growing consumer awareness of health and the environment, the Organic Supermarket will debut to showcase an array of the latest organic food products. In fact, this year the show will feature 169 products with the Organic label. In addition, visitors can also look out for quirky interesting innovative products at THAIFEX-World of Food Asia 2016 including a new gadget that allows one to fill beer from the bottom-up, instant ramen noodles packed with Malaysian flavours like Penang’s famous Assam Laksa and a unique twist on Asia’s classic dumplings.

Raising The Roof For Sustainability

THAIFEX-World of Food Asia looks at different ways to adopt a more sustainable approach to running Asia’s leading food and beverage show.

Another initiative in partnership with Tetra Pak is the recycling of Tetra Pak-sponsored water cartons, which will be distributed throughout the event. THAIFEX-World of Food Asia will educate and encourage visitors to fold the water cartons for recycling. These water cartons will be collected from THAIFEX-World of Food Asia and be turned into roofing sheets to provide emergency shelter for those in need. This is one of the ways that the show is giving back to the community to show their appreciation to host country, Thailand, who have supported and contributed to the success of THAIFEX-World of Food Asia over the past 12 years.

Koelnmesse – Global Competence in Food: Koelnmesse is the leading trade fair organizer in the food industry and related sectors. Trade fairs such as the Anuga, the International Sweets & Biscuits Fair (ISM) and Anuga Food Tec are established world leaders. Koelnmesse not only organizes food trade fairs in Cologne, Germany, but also in further growth markets around the globe, in Brazil, in China, in India, in Japan, in Thailand, in Turkey and in the United Arab Emirates. These global activities enable us to offer our customers a network of events, which in turn grant access to different markets and thus create a basis for sustainable and stable international business.

The Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP): The Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) has the following duties and responsibilities:

• Strengthen traditional export markets and expand new markets.
• Promote and enhance Trade in Service Sector.
• Cultivate new exporters in regional areas.
• Promote and develop International Trade Mart.
• Internationalization of Thai companies by encouraging outward business investment and brands creation.
• Product development and enhance value creation.
• Maximize the utilization of trade negotiations and free trade agreements (FTAs).

The Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC): The Thai Chamber of Commerce plays a proactive role in representing the interests of the local Thai business community.