The participation in Anuga trade fair led by MATRADE saw Malaysian companies reaping huge export value potential

MALAYSIAN food & beverages (F&B) products featured at world’s largest F&B trade fair, Anuga in Germany, recently were well received after their participation in the event saw a total of RM106.7 million in export value being generated.

Chef Dr Shahrim making teh tarik during the exhibition

The event was held at Koelnmesse, Cologne in early October involving 32 Malaysian exporters, Ministry of International Trade & eCommerce Sarawak and Malaysian Palm Oil Council.

Among the products showcased by the Malaysian companies were coconut-based products, coffee, tea & cocoa, ‘Ready-to-eat’ meals, beverages, noodles, confectioneries, cooking oil, frozen food, sauce & paste and functional food.

This was MATRADE’s 10th participation in the century-old Anuga, which was attended by 7,590 exhibitors from 106 countries. During the event, Malaysian brands were exposed to over 170,000 trade visitors from 201 countries.

Among the importers that have expressed interest from Malaysia included Japan, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, among others.

One of the Malaysian companies at the event, Ken Tan from Bon Food Industries Sdn Bhd said, “This was our first time participating in Anuga, the result was fantastic and we received about 50 high-quality enquiries from various global buyers.

Anuga also served as a platform for us to touch based with our existing customers in Europe. We strongly believe this initiative by MATRADE will boost our export sales in year 2020. Thank you MATRADE for organising such successful event.”

The Malaysian delegation at Anuga 2019 in Germany

Similarly, Abdul Malek Manap from Munif Hijjaz Marketing Sdn Bhd said, “Anuga 2019 was a great stepping stone for Munif Hijjaz Marketing as we were able to meet with one of Indonesia’s largest distributors who we met at MIHAS 2019 in Menara MATRADE, Kuala Lumpur.

The Indonesian distributor has initially expressed his interest to bring our products to Indonesia during MIHAS 2019. Seeing us in Anuga, it helped to boost his confidence on our company’s credibility and this helped eased our negotiation process with the distributor.”

In 2018, total trade between Malaysia and the European Union (EU) for Processed Food amounted to RM3.39 billion. Malaysia’s exports of Processed Food to the EU totalled RM598.2 million, while imports of Processed Food from the EU amounted to RM2.79 billion.

Malaysia’s exports of Processed Food to the EU for the period of January – July 2019 was valued at RM533 million.

Among the EU countries, Germany is Malaysia’s largest trading partner. Other than the EU, Malaysian food products have reached markets such as the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.