26 September 2017--The Philippine Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service will lead a delegation of 10 Philippine companies to the Food, Drinks, Hotel & Foodservice Equipment, Supplies, Services and Related Technology or Food and Hotel Malaysia (FHM) 2017, to be held from September 26 to 29 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. 

This is the second straight time that the Philippines will participate in the FHM, which is considered as Malaysia's official trade exhibition for food, drinks, hotel, restaurants, food services, bakery equipment, supplies and retail industries. 

It is part of 50 countries to join the event, to include the United States, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, South Africa and Taiwan, and one of 12 countries to have a country-pavilion during the exhibition.  The Philippine booth can be found at the Hall 10 of the exhibition, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

“Philippine produce are considered gold standards in shelves around the world, from our mangoes, bananas, pineapples and other products.  We are hopeful that while there are already Filipino products in Malaysian shelves, the participation of our exhibitors in the FHM 2017 would enable them to penetrate the market and for importers and buyers to know more about Philippine products,” Ambassador Charles C. Jose said.

The Philippine companies expected to join the DA delegation include Fruits of Life (coconut products), RM Fruitz (fresh fruits), Mira’s Nature Goodness (flavored teas), Edna and Rebecca’s Banana Chips and Coated Peanuts (banana chips and peanuts), Wellness Care International Corp (health food products), Kitchen Winery Food Ventures, Inc. (condiments), BAHI Interprises Ventures, Inc. (flavored teas), Pasciolco Agri Ventures (coconut products), Joy Table Sauce (lemongrass products) and Castillejos Agri-Farms, Inc. (fruit products).

Following positive feedback, the Philippine delegation will also bring in halal products, which were first brought to the Malaysia International Halal Show held in April this year.

Alongside the US, Japan, Netherlands, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Germany, Malaysia is one of the Philippines’ significant trading partners.  It is also the Philippines’ second biggest trading partner for agricultural products within the ASEAN. 

FHM 2017 features business-to-business engagements, a culinary exhibition and an opportunity for buyers and other visitors to see and even taste the latest products and services offered by the food, beverage and hospitality industry worldwide.

During the Philippines first participation in the FHM in 2015, muscovado sugar emerged as top seller among all local products promoted during the show, with booked sales of about PhP1 million (roughly US$20000).  This year, the exhibitors are expected to realize a total of P10 million (around US$2 million) in sales.  END