After a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Food Ingredients (Fi) Vietnam expo will return in October, offering a gateway to the country’s thriving food and beverage ingredients market.

It will bring together more than 5,000 food and beverage professionals from around Viet Nam and globally, and over 160 exhibitors from 20 countries.

Its highlights will include an area called ‘Spotlight Product Showcase’ where an extensive selection of the most innovative products will be displayed.

It will also feature a business matching programme, international conferences and seminars, including the Ingredients for Innovations Conference hosted by the Vietnam Association of Food Science and Technology (VAFoST), and the annual VAFoST Young Achievers’ Safe Food Award.

Speaking at a press conference held to introduce the event in HCM City on Thursday, Nguyen Dang Hien, deputy chairman of the Food and Foodstuff Association of HCM City, said Viet Nam’s production of food products increased by nearly 9 per cent in the first eight months of this year.

Retail sales of food increased by 12 per cent, and the sector is expected to maintain a high growth rate in the coming years, he said.

Nakamura Minoru, general director of Morinaga Milk Vietnam Co., Ltd, said after COVID-19 Vietnamese are increasingly buying functional products and food supplements that support their immune system and disease prevention.

Le Nguyen Doan Duy of the HCM City University of Food Industry, said consumers are paying more and more attention on the ingredients of products.

Viet Nam has to import most food and beverage ingredients, but some local businesses have begun to make them, he said.

Rungphech Chitanuwat, ASEAN regional portfolio director at Informa Markets, the event’s organiser, said since its inception in 2014 Fi Vietnam has quickly grown into the most comprehensive F&B ingredients event in Viet Nam.

Fi Vietnam 2022, with co-located events Beverage Ingredients and Natural Ingredients, would offer an excellent opportunity for businesses to source ingredients, establish links with the region’s leading producers and distributors and learn from industry experts, she said.

The expo will be held at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Centre from October 12 to 14. — VNS