Fi Asia: Companies urged to innovate

Fi Asia reigns as Southeast Asia’s major trade event for food and beverage ingredient products and trends. The 24th edition drew more than 20,000 trade visitors to the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Center (BITEC) from 11-13 September 2019, according to organizer Informa Markets. With new products and concepts from 750 exhibitors, this year’s event was bigger by 25% (occupying Halls 101-104), compared to the 2017 edition.

Fi Asia 2019 expected over 20,000 registered visitors in BITEC.

In his speech, Manu Leopairote, chairman-Thailand of Informa Markets, said that this trade show’s “continued evolution and growth reflects the robust development of the food and beverage sector not only in Thailand but also in the ASEAN.”

Commenting on the mix of visitors – with 60% coming from Thailand, 25% from the ASEAN region, and 10 from China and India, Mr Leopairote said that entrepreneurs from Asia are the most eager to visit the show due to the tough competition in the food and beverage industry in the region. Therefore, they have to keep improving themselves to always meet the needs of consumers. He also said that Asia’s emerging markets offer many opportunities for food and beverage companies who are ready production-wise. 

VIPs meet exhibitors at their booths

Fi Asia 2019 had the support of the Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR) and the government agency, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB). TISTR aims to be a leading organisation in the integration of science, technology and innovation for a sustainable innovation-based society, according to TISTR governor, Dr Chutima Eamchotchawalit. During Fi Asia, TISTR held the conference Innofood Academy 2019: Unlock your health in snack as well as co-hosted the workshop, ASEAN Symposium on Development of High Value-Added Food Products, and co-organised Start-up Innovative F&B Product Competition.

So many flavours, colours, and textures for bakery products, confectionery, snacks, and beverages

Digitisation stressed

One of the key messages for participants of Fi Asia was to tap new technology to keep up with the trends. Ms. Rungphet Chitanuwat, Business Director-ASEAN, Informa Markets, reminded that digitisation – converting information into digital format – is not only for big companies, and even SMEs have to follow suit to catch up with the trends. The value of global food technologies is expected to reach $250.43 billion in 2022. Of this number, $10,000 million come from Southeast Asia, shared Ms. Chitanuwat.   

“The entrepreneurs in Thailand’s food and beverage industry are already internally recognised but they still lack technologies and innovations to uplift their existing products to the level of having better competitiveness. If they can do so, they will have opportunities to expand into other foreign markets and drive Thailand’s food industry, which is valued at over 2.7 trillion baht, to grow and gain more popularity in markets around the world," she said.

Rungpet Chitanuwat, Project Group Director Asia region

Vietnam a major competitor

Ms. Rungphet added that ‘Vietnam’ is a rising competitor in the food industry as it increases its production capacity and competes with Thailand by offering lower prices. She therefore stressed the need for Thai companies to stay proactive, to develop better products through technologies and innovations, and apply innovations in turning raw materials into food ingredients to help Thai entrepreneurs enter these markets more easily.   

She also said that Thai companies should pay attention to new trade partners from different parts of the world. She gave the example of the Philippines which imports processed food from foreign countries and have high demand in canned processed fruits and vegetables, and the UAE which has been increasing demand for noodle products, pasta, and rice due to a rising number of expats living there. She said the USA is a $45 billion market for organic food and beverages, making it one of the biggest organic markets in the world, while Turkey has a continually-growing fruit juice market with the total sales of ready-to-drink fruit juice in 2018 reached 1,033.8 million liters. These high-demand products are the food and beverage products which Thailand can manufacture with high quality.

Amano Enzyme was among products showcased at the Innovation Zone

From Lanxess, Velcorin® technology controls a wide range of spoilage micro-organisms

Health ingredients Pavilion launched; other show features

At this edition, Fi Asia launched the Health ingredients Pavilion to support the growing need for health ingredients solutions across the ASEAN. Aside from this new feature, Fi Asia presented the top ingredient innovations for 2019 in the Innovation Zone, which included such products as Roquette’s NUTRALYS® S85 Plus, Ascentra® Sodium Reducing Flavor Enhancer, FrieslandCampina’s Nutri Whey Isolate Clear, and Reishield’s natural products for the immune system.

The Sensory Box featured technical demonstrations, blind tests, and cooking demonstrations for Thai visitors. Fi Asia set up eight pavilions for companies coming from the USA, China, Ireland, Europe, India, Japan, France, and Thailand, 70 exhibitor seminars, as well as conferences focusing on food safety, innovation, and more.

The Start-up Innovation Challenge encouraged start-up companies to present their unique F&B products, while the Beverage ingredients Theatre presented talks from exhibitors on what’s new in the beverage space.

Next year, Fi Asia will be held in Ji Expo, Jakarta, Indonesia from September 9-11, 2020, and then back in Bangkok on September 15-17, 2021.

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