Major Buyers Shop Show in Bangkok
In Search of Tasty (and Safe) Food
By JOHN M. SAULNIER, QFFI Chief Editor & Publisher

Joined by dignitaries and show organizers, Thailand Deputy Minister of Commerce, Pol. Lt. Col. Bunyin Tangpakorn, ceremoniously cuts the ribbon to inaugurate the Thaifex – World of Food Asia trade fair in Bangkok.

Frozen soups and ready meals from CP (Charoen Pokphand), Thailand’s biggest frozen foods company and exporter.

Frozens abound at fair, which featured products from 1,011 exhibitors and 32 countries. Visitors numbered 21,833, led by contingents from Malaysia, the USA, Singapore, Japan and PRC.

From Pad Thai with Prawns and Blue Elephant Royal Thai Cuisine-inspired ready meals, to pineapple bars and frozen mangosteen, to light and soft taro-filled puff pastry, and much more – the delicate and delicious flavors of Siam and beyond were served for all to savor. By every account, the annual running of Thaifex – World of Food Asia in Bangkok was the place place to meet, greet and eat from May 21-25.

Value-added products were front and center at the exhibition, which served to further burnish Thailand’s “Kitchen of the World” credentials. When all was said and done, purchase orders valued at over US $88 million were written up, estimated Thailand’s Department of Export Promotion (DEP), an organizer of the event along with the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Cologne, Germany-based Koelnmesse.
The food industry is big business in Thailand, generating $15.6 billion in exports which accounted for 10% of the nation’s total foreign exchange earnings in 2007.

“This year we expect to have an impressive export value of $16.2 billion. Indeed, only during the first quarter of 2008 the value has already reached $4.5 billion, a 32% growth rate over the same period in 2007,” said Deputy Minister of Commerce Pol. Lt. Col. Bunyin Tangpakorn during the fair’s opening ceremony.

Just as important as was their mission to procure flavorful, nutritious and innovative retail products and foodservice menu solutions, international buyers beat a path to Bangkok to further diversify their supply lines. During times of heightened food safety concerns, in the wake of a wave of recalls and delistings of SKUs imported from some countries [see related story on page 101], dealing with trusted vendors who are able to guarantee 100% traceability is more important than ever.

“We have been sourcing a lot of frozen edamame and other items from China, and are here looking to broaden our supply base,” said Matt Governanti, a business development executive with Santa Fe Springs, California-based KoreanFarm, Inc. The company is a distributor of Asian premium food brands in the USA.

Was his shopping trip in Thailand successful?

Culture as well as cuisine attracted the attention of music lovers and chow hounds alike to the Thai Union stand, which was classical in sound and classic in its presentation of tuna products and a raft of other seafood offerings.

Sushi reigned supreme as a favorite grab-and-go lunch for many show-goers on the busy floor at Thaifex in Bangkok. It also was popular as a snack all day long.

Surapon Foods has evolved over the years from being a supplier of seafood commodities to a full-line producer of frozen ready meals and sushi toppings as well as cooked prawns.

“Yes. We had very good conversations with a number of producers, among them Lanna Agri Industry Company,” he told Quick Frozen Foods International (QFFI) magazine. The Seraphi, Changmai-headquartered processor exports a wide variety of frozen vegetables and fruits ranging from green soy beans and corn to mango fruit chews and lychee smoothie blends.

Guido Heynen, director and chief executive officer of Haltern, Germany-based Supermarket Foods Asia Ltd., on the scene as an exhibitor, was just as keen about import opportunities as making export sales.
“We work as a delegated purchaser in Asia for the Friedrichs seafood company and other European food firms, and act as a wholesaler of all kinds of dairy products and desserts,” he told QFFI. “You can be sure that from both a buying and selling point of view, quality assurance is what Thailand is all about.”

A Thai company producing high-quality frozen foods for many years now, and not surprisingly ranking as the nation’s No. 1 frozen food packer and largest food exporter, is Charoen Pokphand. Known better abroad by its initials, CP is engaged in supplying frozen poultry, red meat, fish and other seafood to both domestic and global markets, as well as the feed that nourishes chickens, pigs, finfish and shrimp as they grow to market size.

Its CPF Trading Co. arm, which specializes in ready meals and snack foods, was in prominent profile at Thaifex. The unit especially shined a spotlight on frozen soups and traditional favorites such as Shrimp Green Curry with Rice, which has made inroads into Western export markets under the Thai Thai retail brand.

There was plenty to sing and dance about at the Thai Union Manufacturing Co., Ltd. stand, where a fashionably dressed string quartet of young ladies drew crowds to a series of musical interludes. The Bangkok-based supplier of tuna, salmon, crab, shrimp and oysters also employed a team of agile gymnasts, which kept folks coming back for more performances, resulting in further exposure to the seafood product line.

Samutprakarn-headquartered Surapon Foods flew its “In Food Safety...We Care. In Food Traceability...We Know” banner high at Thaifex, emphasizing a farm-to table traceability system. The company has a wide assortment of value-added products ranging from frozen dim sum items including shrimp shumai and custard buns, to appetizers such as torpedo breaded prawns and shrimp balls. Frozen sushi offered by Surapon runs the gamut from California Maki and Nigiri Ebi, while the toppings line includes salmon and octopus slices. There is also a robust selection of frozen ready meals featuring everything from Tom Kha Goong to Thai-style fish cakes.

The company, which has been in business for more than 30 years, says that it has “led the way in the invention of frozen ready-to-eat Thai food with real authentic taste.” Most products are available in retail packaging as well as in foodservice bulk packs, and are pre-certified for export to Japan, the EU, USA and Canada.

Karan Sivasiamphai, a sales executive with Bangkok International Cuisine (BIC), invites Thaifex visitors to sample the company’s Rang Mahal Indian dishes.

Blue Elephant Cooking School and Restaurant recipes are now available fully prepared in frozen form thanks to a new line of ready meals promoted at the Bangkok-headquartered company’s stand during the Thaifex – World of Food Asia show. The product line, distributed under the Azian retail brand, includes Soba and Wok Noodles as well as Chicken Curry.

Another pioneer in Thailand’s frozen recipe dish sector is Thai Agri Foods Public Company Ltd., which also happens to be based in Samutprakarn. Siriwan Leelapornchai, business development manager, showed QFFI a new range of ready meals marketed under the Suyothai label and described as “The Soul of Authentic Thai Cuisine.”

The microwaveable line, distributed in 350- to 400-gram retail boxes, ranges from Sweet & Sour Fish and Shu-Shi Fish with Thai Jasmine Rice to traditional Tom Yum Kung and Pad Thai with Shrimp.
“The meals delicately balance the five flavors that Thai food is known for – spicy, sour, sweet, salty and bitter,” she pointed out.

Hervé Haurie, managing director of the Blue Elephant Royal Thai Cuisine cooking line, was at the fair with a mind to further extend the distribution network for its range of Azian brand ready meals. The Bangkok-based company is hoping to build on the success of its cooking school and expanding chain of Blue Elephant Restaurants and Blue Bars that are found in far afield places extending from London, Paris and Brussels to New Delhi, Beirut, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Of course, there were a great many other cuisines served up at Thaifex, featuring original recipes that spanned the globe from Vietnam and Malaysia to Japan, Korea, North America, Europe and India.
In the case of Indian fare, perhaps Bangkok International Cuisine Co. (BIC) presented the most interesting mix of frozen ready meals. Among items in its Rang Mahal retail range are Chicken Biryani and Prawn Kadhai with Safron Pulao, Punjabi Samosa and Massaman Curry.

“Domestically, our ethnic ready meals, which include Mexican as well as Thai cuisine, are found in over 80 retail outlets,” Shivek Sivasiamphai, vice president of marketing, told QFFI. “As an addendum to our retail focus, we have developed a range of gourmet Thai and Indian ethnic sauces for foodservice and catering uses. They are currently being served during flights on Thai Airways International, as well as in some of the finest hotels in Thailand.”

Ayutthaya-headquartered Alfredo Enterprise Co., Ltd., again exhibiting at the fair, showed off a still growing assortment of convenience snack foods that includes single-serve pizzas, waffles, hot dogs, sandwiches, veggie wraps and cheese sticks.