Magazines Archives - 2012 June

FHA2012 and WSA2012 set new attendance
Story 9 - Special Reviews

Exhibitors and international group pavilions were pleased with the quality of buyers they met and the results achieved.

RETURNING to Singapore from April 17-20 this year were two co-located events comprising the 18th edition of Food&HotelAsia (FHA2012) and the 12th Wine&SpiritsAsia (WSA2012) which can best be described as "a flurry of business-making and relationshipbuilding activities". Held at full capacity at the Singapore Expo, the mega trade events surpassed all previous records with a new high score of more than 60,000 participants comprising industry visitors, exhibiting staff, conference speakers and delegates, and media in attendance, said organiser

FHA2012 and WSA2012 showcased an even stronger line-up of state-ofthe- art products, services and cuttingedge technologies, alongside exciting world-class competitions and thoughtleadership conferences — headlined by more than 60 world-leading industry experts and speakers.

"Positive feedback from show participants further testifies to the tremendous success of FHA and WSA, and exhibitors are already scurrying to secure their space for the next edition in 2014. The outstanding attendee result strongly affirms that the show is Asia's most relevant biennial trade event for the F&B and hospitality industries," said SES' chief executive, Stephen Tan.

Food&HotelAsia2012 (FHA2012) and Wine&SpiritsAsia(WSA2012), Asia's most relevant and largest trade events for the F&B and hospitality industries, achieved a new record of more than 60,000 trade attendees, figures that speak for the success of these fairs.

"You can feel the buzz of business negotiations as you walk through the aisles. The attendees are happy because they are pleasantly surprised at the spread of products, services and solutions. We do see a probable increase in size for FHA2014 and in anticipation of this, we will increase our exhibition area to occupy Halls 1 to 10 (formerly referred to as Max Pavilion), that includes the newly built Max Atria," he added.

Positive feedback all around

As a one-stop sourcing and relevant networking platform for industry professionals, the exhibition is expected to hit US$3-billion worth of business deals, based on pre-registered visitors who have indicated their sourcing budgets for purchases, said SES. Overall, exhibitors and international group pavilions were pleased with the quality of buyers they met and the results achieved. Many came away from the show having met potential distributors for their products from various countries in Asia.

SES' Stephen Tan: "Positive feedback from show participants further testifies to the tremendous success of FHA and WSA."

Exhibitor Roshan Tisswaratchy, director of sales, MJF Group, Dilmah, Sri Lanka, commented: "This is our fourth time exhibiting. We are always happy with FHA, which is why we are here. FHA helps us to meet our importers, distributors and customers. The event is an effective platform to meet everybody in one place. FHA is getting bigger. We will certainly return to the show in 2014, and will continue to leverage future editions of FHA to reach out to more markets, such as Japan." Harbans Singh, managing director of UbiQ Global Solutions, Malaysia, had this to say: "This exhibition has really grown a lot. We've witnessed very good quality attendees so far. [We've been] a participant of FHA for about 20 years and will always be present as it is a very important show to us."

FHA2012 and WSA2012 set new attendance

NASDA's DeWitt Ashby: While China has been a key focus for NASDA over the past decade, due to its immense growth potential, other emerging countries in the Asia-Pacific region are also beginning to stir demand for US products.

IN light of the global economic quagmire, it seemed a stretch of the imagination that US retailers and manufacturers still turned up in strength at this year's US Food Showcase (USFS 2012), bringing a buzz of optimism and excitement as exhibitors took to the show floor. Organised by the US National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), the USFS 2012 was staged at the Dallas Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, USA, from May 1-3, co-located with the Food Marketing Institute's FMI 2012 convention and exhibition, as well as the United Fresh 2012 and AMI 2012 expos. This year, the megaevent saw over 14,000 individual registrants, looking to meet with manufacturers and vendors as well as take home valuable insights from the extensive selection of education programmes and workshops. As many attendees were coming to terms with the new realities of retailing such as post-recession consumer habits and other trends driving the sector forward (see box story on page 76, FMI identifies trends and opportunities for the food retail industry), expansion and exporting opportunities remained one of the key objectives of exhibitors at the USFS 2012.

Introducing a selection of creative and enticing products unlike any the food retail industry has seen before, exhibitors at the USFS pavilion, half of which were participating for the first time this year, were eager to explore opportunities both local and overseas, given the right opportunities, DeWitt Ashby, director of Trade Shows at NASDA, said.

With a delegation of about 40 Chinese buyers from Shanghai, Chengdu and Kunming this year, Ashby added that while China has been a key focus for NASDA over the past decade, due to its immense growth potential, other emerging countries in the Asia-Pacific region are also beginning to stir demand for US products.

"The growing affluence among emerging countries in Asia, not just in China, is also driving demand for US products, particularly among the younger population who are much more accepting of different kinds of cuisine.

"Another observation is that the western-style supermarkets and club stores are becoming more prevalent in Asia now. Almost every consumer has been exposed to packaged consumer products, which is a big difference from some 20 years ago. And what we've seen in Asia is that retailers are doing a really good job of adapting the western retail model to the local tastes by including features that people are really interested in, like live fish and fresh local produce," he elaborated.

Attesting to this observation, Shirley Bailey, COO of Texas Tamale Company, which is already in the UK, Australia and Canada, said that the company is keen to export and has already received some interest from South Korea. "The Asian market seems very readily accepting of US- and Mexican-type food, so that's on our radar," Bailey affirmed.

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