Customers buy food ingredients at a supermarket. More than 100 leading Vietnamese and foreign suppliers will take part in the first Food Ingredients Vietnam in May. Photo Phap luat TPHCM

HCM CITY — More than 100 leading Vietnamese and foreign suppliers of food ingredients are expected to take part in an exhibition in May.

The first Food Ingredients Vietnam will showcase raw materials and additives and chemicals used in the food industry, including in dairy, confectionery, beverage, and foodstuffs, according to Rungphech Chitanuwat, business development director of exhibition company UBM Asia (Thailand), the organiser of the event.

"It will offer businesses opportunities to find partners, obtain market information, and know about new technologies," she told a press briefing on Thursday.

There will be seminars on macro trends and market perspectives during the three-day event.

She noted that Viet Nam's food industry has been developing rapidly and its import of materials from the US grew by 10 per cent in 2013.

Urbanisation and demand for food safety and the possibility of exporting to regional and global markets would help boost the industry, she added.

The exhibition is scheduled to take place from May 21 to 23 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in District 7. — VNS