US$500 mln in sales expected at MIFB trade fair

KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 (Bernama)  -- The ongoing 20th Malaysian International Food and Beverage Trade Fair (MIFB) is expected to generate US$500 million (US$1=RM4.14) in sales and attract 20,000 trade visitors, said the organiser Sphere Exhibits Malaysia.

"For this year edition, there are 600 exhibitors with 70 per cent of them are internationals while the remaining 30 per cent are local exhibitors," its project director Henri Tan said.

Speaking to reporters after the opening ceremony of the three-day event today, he said last year, MIFB generated total sales of US$300 million and drew about 19,000 trade visitors.

It was officiated by Sphere Exhibits chairman Chua Wee Phong and Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau chief executive officer Datuk Zulkefli Sharif.

The annual MIFB fair offers industry players the opportunity to network and seal business deals from different regions of the global F&B market.

Earlier in his speech, Chua said there were several new countries participated in the MIFB 2019 such as Bhutan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

"This annual F&B trade fair also provides an opportunity for the industry to showcase their agriculture and agricultural products for a bigger market penetration besides learning and interacting with successful players," he said.

Chua said this year edition also introduced a new programme, F&B Start-Up that served as the onsite business matching platform between the start-ups and investors who were keen to invest in the latest innovative F&B service solutions.

"To differentiate our start-up @ MIFB with the rest, we are bringing in 11 investors from Malaysia, India and Hong Kong to the start-up village.

"The potential investors would be visiting each of the start-up companies at their exhibit areas to hear their pitching and all participating start-ups will be given equal opportunity to meet one-on-one and present their business plans to the investors," he added.

Chua said the participating start-up companies were selected mainly from food technology, food and beverage, halal food or seafood and fishery segments with aspirations to contribute to the growth of the F&B industry.

"With the help of high-tech machinery and advanced technology, the F&B industry will bloom and secure Malaysia’s global hub position,” he said while calling for more small and medium enterprises to plan and revamp their businesses in accordance to the developed world’s standpoint.  

-- BERNAMA