Held from May 24 to 28 at Bangkok’s IMPACT Arena, Thailand’s major food fair has now matured into a regional event.

In just a few years, Thailand’s major food convention has turned into a truly international event. Now approaching its 10th anniversary, THAIFEX has seen a surge in bookings from international vendors – up a massive 40 percent from 2013. All are keen to show their speciality wares to increasingly sophisticated Southeast Asian buyers, who are seeking an ever more diverse range of food and beverage products from a host of countries around the world.

Launching the 2014 exhibition at the Nonthaburi headquarters of the DITP on April 29, the Department’s Director-General Nuntawan Sakuntanaga announced that Thailand was well on the way to accomplishing its goal of being the regional food hub.
“Thailand wants to be a one stop service - whatever you want we will have it,” she said.

Foreign exhibit numbers at THAIFEX will rise from 600 last year to 890 this year, Michael Dreyer Asia Pacific vice president of Koelnmesse, told Horizon Thailand. “It was little bit of a surprise for us actually given the political situation,” he said, before attributing the rise to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) being around the corner and Thailand’s strength in food production, as well as being a hub for both importing and re-exporting to other countries in ASEAN.

Dreyer noted that Thailand already has sufficient infrastructure to achieve the DITP’s goal. “You have the warehouses you have the refrigeration and you have the knowhow about hygiene and food safety,” he said. “People are looking for a base to use for the bigger [ASEAN] market which is coming up next year.”

Drawing on his long experience in the event business Dreyer added that THAIFEX has now reached maturity. “It seems that last year THAIFEX got over that hurdle, now people are coming and they are asking what can we do, how can we get in,” he said.

A large delegation of exhibitors is expected from key nations including Italy, China and Japan. There has been particularly strong interest from Italy for the second year, a result in part due to the Italian government doing away with their own export promotion activities. Koelnmesse’s subsidiary in Italy saw an opportunity and is now working directly with Italian food associations.

“We are grouping Italian companies together to give them the feel of a national pavilion even though there is no government subsidy,” said Dreyer.

As regards Thailand’s twin key trading partners, 130 Chinese companies will be represented at THAIFEX. With a further 70 exhibitors coming from Japan.

This year THAIFEX has organised a coffee roasting competition, and there is a special programme on food safety. Overall, it sounds like Nuntawan Sakuntanaga has certainly delivered the goods and that THAIFEX 2014 will be a one-stop shop for all things food.

Words by Michael Sainsbury