More than 1,700 exhibitors, including Filipino food firms, joined the 2019 Food Taipei 5-in-1 Mega Expo in Taiwan.
Philippine trade attache to Taiwan Michael Alfred Ignacio said 11 Filipino food and beverage companies joined this year’s exhibition. The Philippine line-up was composed of established companies like Century Pacific Food Inc., Destileria Limtuaco & Co. Inc., Team Asia Corp., Tropicana Food Products Inc. and Grand Asia Integrated Natural Coco Products Corp.
High-innovation companies such as JND Manufacturing Industries Inc., Leonie Agri Corp., Mira’s Turmeric Products, Pasciolco Agri Ventures, Yearluck Food and Industrial Corp. and Yanyan International Philippines Inc. also participated in the Mega Expo which consists of five events—Food Taipei, Foodtech & Bio/Pharmatech Taipei, Taipei Pack, Taiwan Horeca and Halal Taiwan. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council organized the Mega Expo.
Companies from 38 countries occupied 5,056 booths spread over the 91,000 square-meter exhibition floor.
Taiwanese companies have been dealing with Filipino companies for packaging and processing solutions. Mill Powder Tech Co. Ltd., for one, has been doing customized machines for big Filipino companies for 20 years.
It has supplied the technical requirements of Jollibee Food Corp., Universal Robina Corp. and other companies.
“Manila was our first overseas market. We started a distributorship agreement 15 years ago and that agreement is still very much in place. With the Philippines, it’s like a long-term relationship,” said Mill Powder Tech assistant general manager Tony Ling.
Mill Powder Tech is a family business started out by Ling’s parents. It specializes in pulverizers, mixers, blenders for food, pharmaceutical and biotech machinery and waste materials recycling machines.
Meanwhile, one of the most popular food trends today is the boba drink craze. Boba which means bubble in Taiwan altered the way people take their cold drinks. During the food expo, boba drinks dominated the cold and fun beverage space with many variants of milk tea and bubble tea drinks.
One of the biggest one-stop shops for milk tea and bubble tea entrepreneurs is the famous Taiwan SunnySyrup Food Co. Ltd.
“Taiwan is the origin of milk tea. Whatever innovations we make out of our milk tea here from pearl shakes to bubble tea, all these have become global trends. That’s why we keep pushing our R&D [research and development] team to come up with more variations and new twists to this trendy beverage,” said SunnySyrup R&D manager Cindy Hong.
SunnySyrup has presence in the US, Korea and Japan. It is exporting products ranging from machines to utensils and milk and bubble tea ingredients to more than 100 countries.
The company also exports machines such as snow ice shavers, snow ice makers, sealing machines, ice makers, fructose dispenser, shaking machines, tea and coffee machines, blenders and crepe and waffle machines.
State-owned TTL, meanwhile, has been exporting beer overseas. Its classic Gold Medal beer is one of its major export products to the Philippines. TTL also plans to export fruity beer—a low-alcohol beer to the Philippines.
TTL representative Stephy Hsiao said the competition in the sector has intensified over the years. “We’re still the dominant entity although our share has eroded over time. Competition is growing at a fast rate and we have to keep up with the new products in the market to protect our position as Taiwan’s premier liquor and cigarette company,” she said.
Transitioning from a monopoly to a state-owned company, TTL has also diversified into manufacturing various products.
It is one of the first companies to introduce wine-infused instant noodles.
