The 15th and largest edition of THAIFEX-World of Food Asia came to a close on Saturday (2nd June) after five action-packed days on the show floor – and exceeding all expectations in terms of turn-out, with double-digit year-on-year growth.

A total of 13,110 international trade visitors from over 150 countries were present at the region’s largest dedicated food & beverage (F&B) tradeshow, representing a 9.4-per-cent growth from the 2017 edition and surpassing all of the event’s previous records. 

This brought the total trade visitor count to a whopping 62,039 – a 12.6-per-cent increase from the previous show, surpassing the expected 60,000 attendees, and the largest number of visitors to date at THAIFEX-World of Food Asia.

An impactful platform that showcased the synergistic partnership between the government and private sector to address growing F&B demands and concerns in Asia, THAIFEX-World of Food Asia is jointly organised by Koelnmesse Pte Ltd, the Department of International Trade Promotion, and the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

“The potential of ASEAN is tremendous. We've been recording strong double digit growth since 2014, in conjunction with the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community. In fact, we have been adding an average of 10,000sqm to the show every year since then, and we’ve even carved out an additional two trade days this year to better facilitate business exchange,” said Mathias Kuepper, Managing Director, Koelnmesse. “This year's record-breaking figures are a testament to the attractiveness of the ASEAN F&B market, and we’d like to give our heartfelt gratitude to all exhibitors, buyers, and visitors for their constant support.”

Platform for penetrating ASEAN market 

This year, THAIFEX-World of Food Asia 2018 played host to 2,537 exhibitors – recording a remarkable 17-per-cent increase from the previous year, in support of the increasing importance of the ASEAN region to the F&B industry. Representatives from countries such as Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam held a strong presence at the show, with international exhibitor numbers on par with local exhibitors for the second year running.

Echoing similar sentiments, Mrs Napawan Promkhatkaew, MD of Family Tree Foods Co. Ltd, said that the online business-matching and database management tools at THAIFEX-World of Food Asia contributed greatly to the firm’s successful participation as an exhibitor this year. “Not only were we able to widen our business networks and meet prospective customers from other parts of the world such as Latin America, Africa and the Middle East using these tools – the strong promotional efforts of the organisers also meant our existing customers knew about our participation at the show, and took time to fly in to Bangkok to meet us here,” she said.