Thaifex: Another record-breaking event

THAIFEX-World of Food Asia offered show attendees a multitude of opportunities to identify potential business partners across 16 different food and hospitality segments, with similar robust performance in World of Seafood, World of Coffee & Tea and World of FoodService. The fair, which took place from 21-25 May at the IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Centre, saw visitor attendance reach 30,479. According to organisers, there were 20% more foreign exhibitors this year at 1,463.

Positive response

"We see an improvement in the quality of the visitors to our booth, with buyers coming from Southeast Asia and Europe. Sales leads and deals were made at Thaifex and this, to us, is what made the show a success," said Chris Ooi, head, Sales & Marketing, Everbest Soya Bean Products Sdn Bhd. Matt Rutter, general manager of Geraldton Fishermen's Co-operative said, "This may be the first time we have participated at World of Seafood, but the display of live lobster in a tank has certainly been a crowd-puller. We are very pleased with the business potential generated through this show, with enquiries from Japan, Korea, the Middle East, Norway and of course, Thailand. We will be making every effort to return for the next edition in 2015."

Charles Kutner of Boncafe Thailand, who participated in the World of Coffee & Tea said, "The environment was very conducive, as there were many experts in the coffee and tea business who shared their insights through our Boncafe Workshops. We were able to network with the best from the industry, and made many good contacts." Roberto Da Pra of IARP Asia Co., Ltd., who exhibited in the World of FoodService added, "We have been with Thaifex for more than a decade and the introduction of World of FoodService does take a while to get accustomed to but it has certainly given us leverage."

The best of Japan

This year, Japan was partner country. The Japan Pavilion, led by JETRO, presented 55 companies, including those led by the Kyushu Trade Promotion Board, the Kagoshima Prefecture, as well as independent companies from various prefectures in Japan. "Overall, the returns-on-investment from THAIFEX-World of Food Asia has exceeded our expectations. Next year, we hope to return with more companies," said Toshiharu Uki, director, Trade Promotion Department of JETRO Bangkok.

World of Food Safety Conference

The ASEAN Food Industry Thought Leaders Panel brought together global opinion leaders and food industry experts sharing their views on building capabilities to overcome local and international food safety and security challenges. The speakers included Poj Aramwattananont, president, Sea Value Company Ltd, and Hester Chew, Group CEO of McDonald's. They were joined by Yves Rey, chairman, Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and Corporate Quality General Manager, Danone Group, France; Pisan Pongsapitch, deputy secretary general, The National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards; and moderator John Spink, director, Food Fraud Initiative (USA).

In addition, the 2nd World of Food Safety Conference presented 15 senior international experts who covered an extensive range of Food Safety related topics including:
• AEC 2015 impact on global and regional food scenario, Supplier Management, Food Safety and Recalls
• Achieving GFSI certification in developing countries
• Microbial contamination control and Product Counterfeiting as a logistics disruption threat to a supply chain
• Balancing Sustainable Practices and Profitability

Exciting competitions

The 3rd Thailand Ultimate Chef Challenge boasted the highest number of competitors to date with more than 500 chefs. The Best Professional Chef Award went to Lynette Tay Sock Hui Payuda of the
Marina Mandarin Singapore.

At the 2nd Roasters' Choice Award, 56 entries of beans were submitted by coffee producers from Asia. The panel of coffee specialists included, Michael De Renovard, Tuti Hahanah Mochtar, Hide Nishimura, Felix Wong and Chen Chia-Sheng, were in search for the best coffee beans in Asia. Preecha Miacheku from Thailand, won first prize in the Espresso category; Yoga Rayoga from Indonesia won first prize in three categories, Latte, Brewer and Steampunk.