Philippine specialty food products under the Food Philippines brand delighted the taste buds of the US market during the recent 41st Winter Fancy Food Show (WFFS), the largest food and beverage trade show in the American West Coast.
Held last 17-19 January 2016, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California, Food Philippines highlighted 17 home-grown enterprises that had varying social, cultural, and environmental advocacies at the core of their businesses for its third participation in WFFS.
The manufacturers that took part in the food show offered premium-quality specialty food products ranging from processed fruits, frozen and canned tuna, ethnic food, condiments, sauces and mixes and snacks.
Trade Commissioner Nicanor Bautista remarked that the year 2016 was a record year for the Philippine delegation at WFFS, with Philippine specialty food products and their social responsibilities gaining attention from major American importers, distributors, manufacturers, and retailers. A total of 540 inquiries and negotiated sales amounting to over USD44 million underscored the potential of the West Coast as a market for Philippine food products.
The best-selling items included virgin coconut oil (VCO), coconut sugar, frozen tuna, banana chips, frozen saba, organic muscovado sugar, upland rice and jasponica rice, and sea salts. Buyers were mostly looking for natural, organic, fair trade, and healthy products which all packaged to international standards.
“Given the warm reception of social enterprises and their specialty food products in the WFFS, Food Philippines looks forward to the continued promotion of specialty food products with added social dimension in other food and beverage trade shows abroad,” shares Rosvi C. Gaetos, Executive Director of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the export promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). “We are also considering a participation in the Summer Fancy Food Show to sustain the impression we have made in WFFS, and continue positioning the Philippines as a source of high-value, fresh, healthy and natural food products.”
Food Philippines is a branding initiative of DTI-CITEM which serves to unify the promotional efforts of the government in overseas trade exhibitions and events to project one brand, one image, and one voice.
The Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) is the export promotion arm of the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). CITEM is committed to developing, nurturing, and promoting globally-competitive small and medium enterprises (SMEs), exporters, designers, and manufacturers by implementing an Integrated Approach to Export Marketing in partnership with other government and private entities. For more information on its services and events, please log on to www.citem.gov.ph.
For more information on the services of the DTI, log-on to http://www.dti.gov.ph
