Fi Asia 2015 impresses

MAKING good on its declaration as the premier food and natural ingredients event in Southeast Asia, Food ingredients (Fi) Asia 2015 did not fail to impress when it opened on September 9 at BITEC in Bangkok, Thailand. Organizer UBM says this event showcases products and services from more than 650 local and international exhibitors, and expects 15,000 trade visitors. In his speech at the opening ceremony,  chairman of UBM Asia (Thailand), Manu Leopairote said the 20^th edition of Fi Asia is by far the largest with a growth of 40% in exhibition floor space. “The continued evolution and growth of Fi Asia reflects not only the robust development of the food and beverage sector in Thailand, but also in ASEAN,” he said.

Although intermittent rains seemed to have lowered visitor numbers on the morning of day 2, the floors were busy again by noon, with queues for registration still on-going.

There is no time to waste at Fi Asia with a timetable of 30-minute exhibitor presentations all day, a slew of product launches, major conferences on Halal, functional ingredients, regulatory, and many more knowledge and networking opportunities for suppliers, distributors and manufacturers of food, beverages and pharmaceuticals. While keeping track of activities might seem overwhelming, there’s an app for show updates.

Second day registration

The natural and the healthy

Ingredient suppliers are saying that Asia’s food and beverage sector will be seeking natural, organic, and clean label products as consumer demand for end-products with shorter and easily understandable ingredients, will pick up the way it has in developed countries.  Hence this year, Fi Asia opened a new pavilion dedicated to natural and organic ingredients for all types of applications, including dairy, confectionery, beverages, and so on.

Meanwhile, health and nutrition will always be a key part of the ingredients sector. Functionalizing foods with such ingredients as Astaxanthin, moringa, and Omega-3, as well as vitamin D, among others, offers prospects for growth in this space.

Thailand on a plate

Fi Asia takes place alternately between Indonesia and Thailand in order to allow participants to access products and services from these countries. According to Yongvut Saovapruk, president of the National Food Institute, Thailand is the center of food production for both Asia and rest of the world. Nearly 80% of its raw materials are locally available. “Thailand’s abundant natural resources in agriculture play an important factor in its comparative advantages among its competitors in the food processing industry,” he said during the opening ceremony.

In the same occasion, Boonpeng Santiwattanamtam, chairman of The Food Processing Industry Club as well as The Federation of Thai Industries said that the local industry has become one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of processed food products. Thailand has over 10,000 food processing companies, he said.

According to Ministry of Industry head, H.E. Dr Atchaka Sibunruang, Thailand’s food processing sector is highly export-oriented and more than 50% of local production reaches worldwide markets.

“By 2017, the export value of Thai food and beverage industry is expected to reach 2 trillion baht or about US$ 57 billion,” Dr Sibunruang said.

Catch the last day of Fi Asia today!