SEVENTEEN local companies take advantage of the Philippines’s developing trade relations with Japan, as it showcases the country’s finest tropical flavors in the largest food fair in the Asia-Pacific region.
The local companies will feature the country’s premium tropical products, including banana, coconut, mango and pineapple, in the 42nd International Food and Beverage Exhibition, popularly known as Foodex Japan, from March 7 to 10 in Chiba, Japan.
As a major gateway to the Japanese market, Foodex welcomes over 3,000 local and international exhibitors, as well as 75,000 buyers from the food manufacturing, service, distribution and trading sectors this March.
“With the existing Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement [Jpepa], Japan provides an attractive and vast market for Philippine food suppliers to serve the retail, food service and manufacturing industries,” said Rosvi Gaetos, executive director of the Center for International Trade Exhibitions and Missions. “Through this participation, Philippine companies can benchmark and update themselves on the demands and current regulations of the Japanese market.”
For 2017, the Philippine delegation generated at least $28 million in export sales in the four-day event, surpassing last year’s $27-million sales record.
Participating companies in this edition includes AgriNurture Inc., AslaxPhils Corp., Benevelle Corp., CJ Uniworld Corp., DLA Naturals Inc., Bleeding Heart Rum Co., Fruits of Life Inc., GSL Premium Food Export Corp., Maharlika Agro-Marine Venture Corp., Pasciolco Agri Ventures, Prime Fruits International Inc., Profood International Corp., Prosource International Inc., Raw Brown Sugar Milling Co. Inc., Republic Biscuit Corp., See’s International Food Mfg. Corp. and Year Luck Food and Industrial Corp.
Japan is the Philippines’s largest export destination for fresh foods and the second-largest market for processed food, next to the United States. In November 2016 the Philippines’s export to Japan reached $898.83 million, comprising nearly 20 percent of the country’s global export.
FoodPhilippines products include various coconut derivatives, banana chips and other organic fruit purees and fillings. It will also feature soft-serve ice cream and cones, rum, seafood, Peking duck, chicken yakitori and other meat products.
The Philippines is currently the world’s second-largest producer of coconut and banana, according to the 2015 data of the Philippine Coconut Authority and the Department of Agriculture. It is also a top global producer of pineapple (third), canned tuna (fourth) and mango (10th), based on a 2013 data of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
Meanwhile, Philippine bananas are one of the most highly sought-after tropical fruits in Japan—accounting for nearly 90 percent of the total bananas circulating in the Japanese market.
Ninety percent of bananas in Asia are grown in the Philippines, where the industry rakes $1.2 billion annually. Bananas are the second highest-earning agricultural export of the Philippines, next to coconut.
In President Duterte’s state visit last year, Japan pledged a $1- billion investment in the Philippines agricultural sector, as well as agreements to import Philippine bananas, pineapples and avocados.
In particular, Japanese company Farmind Corp. signed an agreement with the Philippine government to import 20 million boxes of Cavendish bananas to Japan every year, generating an estimate of P5 billion annual revenue for local farmers in conflicted areas.
“The Japanese have an intergenerational love affair with Philippine bananas,” Gaetos said. “We plan to introduce a new twist to our ready-to-eat banana chips, of which they show avid fondness.”
Banana chips are slices of bananas that are deep fried, baked, or dehydrated to become crispy. It is then coated with sugar, honey, salt, or spices. Banana chips are increasingly becoming sensational snacks as healthier alternatives to potato chips.
Japan’s financial magazine, Toyo Keizai, said households of at least two people buy an average of 18 kilograms of bananas a year, well ahead of the No. 2 fruit, mandarins, at 13 kilograms per annum.
However, in 2014 the Japan Business Press reported fruit consumption, in general, was dropping in Japan because young people do not have the tendency to eat fruit—or, at least, not in their raw form. Consequently, there is an increasing demand on processed fruits sold as confections and beverages, which appeal to younger people.
FoodPhilippines is a branding initiative of Citem, the export promotion arm of the Philippines’s Department of Trade and Industry. It unifies the efforts of the government in promoting the Philippines as a source of quality food products in the global market.
FoodPhilippines Pavilion will be located at Booth 5B01 along Hall 5 of the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. This participation in the Foodex Japan 2017 is organized by Citem, in partnership with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Tokyo, as one of the DTI’s major efforts to intensify the promotion of Philippine specialty food products in overseas trade shows.