USDBC Monthly Activities Report Southeast Asia Representative. May 2016

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "USDBC Monthly Activities Report Southeast Asia Representative. May 2016"

Peregrine Baker
5 years ago
Views:

1 USDBC Monthly Activities Report Southeast Asia Representative May 2016 M16GXASEA1: Trade Servicing Indonesia Ms. Pornnicha Sathujarun and Mr. Peetipoom Phongsuwan, USDBC Regional Representatives traveled to Bali and Jakarta during 8-13 May. The ultimate objective of this trip was to meet with Indonesian importers of U.S. dry pulses and pulse ingredients and key contacts to make final decisions on the upcoming GBI project, led by the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, M16GXID011: Technical Training of Indonesian Traditional Food Producers. We also took the opportunity to follow up with potential importers of U.S. dry pulses and pulse ingredients and updated them on upcoming programs and activities. On May 9 th, we met with Ms. Fornida Agustina, Purchasing Manager of PT. Alamboga Internusa. They are currently supplying dry pulses imported from Australia to food service and retail industry under the brand DIJON which is available throughout Bali and at high end supermarkets in Jakarta. They are interested in working with U.S. suppliers on the possibility to import mixed containers of pulses. Later on, we sent out their inquiry to the industry members as a trade lead. We did a follow up with them on the possible shipment of U.S. dry pulses. At present, they have been working with U.S. suppliers on the samples and product specifications including baby lima, black, blackeye, cranberry, dark red kidney, garbanzo, great northern, large lima, light red kidney, navy, pink, pinto, small red, small white, and white kidney beans. Another meeting was conducted with Mr. Bill Busch, Managing Director and Ms. Henny Santoso, Directors of PT. Wahana Boga Nusantara (Lotus Food Services). Lotus Food Services are specializing in the import, storage and distribution of temperature controlled and canned/dry goods. They have purchased consolidated loads of dry peas, lentils, chickpeas, and dry beans from many origins, including Australia, Turkey, India, and Canada. They are also interested to work with U.S. suppliers who can ship them products in food service package sizes and consolidated loads. Mr. Bill revealed that he is currently working with U.S. suppliers on samples and product clarification of baby lima, black, blackeye, cranberry, dark red kidney, garbanzo, great northern, large lima, light red kidney, navy, pink, pinto, small red, small white, and white kidney beans. Mr. Bill shared that our upcoming GBI (M16GXID011) project will be a great program to promote U.S. dry pulses and other U.S. ingredients. He will work with his suppliers to have a shipment of U.S. dry pulses arrive in July for product placement to support our program. We also conducted several meetings and visited 3 major supermarkets in Jakarta. A summary of these meetings is provided below. PT. Prambanan Kencana, the largest and most successful bakery ingredient importer in Indonesia. The company also produces bakery premixes. They are still interested to introduce/carry new pulse-based products to the market, including fried bean and lentil chip snacks. At this stage, they would like to know the price and receive samples so they can discuss these with their customers. PT. Magnolium Mandiri Indonesia, a local importer who supplies dairy ingredients to both industrial and HORECA users. We did a follow up on the possibility of importing a mixed container of U.S. pulses and pulse flours. They have been communicating with U.S. suppliers on the quotations. They are currently working with the Indonesian Government to get the ML number to include on the new packaging. USDBC May 2016 Monthly Report Page 1

PT. Indospirit Natura (Healthy Choice), a local importer of over 500 of organic products, including cosmetics, food and beverages, dairy and meat, and natural supplements through organic baby

PT. Ekacitta Dian Perdada (EDP), a local importer of U.S. dry pulses and pulse flour miller. We learned that their sales of U.S. pulses were down 1.

2 PT. Indospirit Natura (Healthy Choice), a local importer of over 500 of organic products, including cosmetics, food and beverages, dairy and meat, and natural supplements through organic baby products. In addition, they are a distributor of Bob s Red Mill products and import U.S. adzuki beans. They would like to join our GBI program and asked for recipe books utilizing U.S. dry pulses and pulse ingredients. PT. Ekacitta Dian Perdada (EDP), a local importer of U.S. dry pulses and pulse flour miller. We learned that their sales of U.S. pulses were down 1.5 MT last year, part of this was because their customers are buying pulses direct from other sources or discontinued production of pulse-based products. However, they are still promoting U.S. dry pulses and pulse flours and have been working with several customers. They already have U.S. black and small red kidney available and would like to take part at our GBI program. Some pictures taken during the trip are provided below. Meeting with PT. Alamboga Internusa in Bali Meeting with Healthy Choice in Jakarta On May 13 th, we met with FAS Jakarta Office. We learned from a major importer of U.S. dry pulses that Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture Regulation updates import procedures for fresh foods of plant origin. U.S. exporters are now required to provide notice of their cargo prior to the shipping vessel s departure of the country of origin. Indonesian quarantine has also stated that dry peas, cow peas, mung beans, and broad beans are not covered under the U.S. food safety country recognition for FFPO, which will mean additional documentation for U.S. exporters. Mr. Ali Abdi, Agricultural Counselor indicated that they have already arranged a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture and will keep us posted on further news. Philippines This month, the Pulse Association of the Philippines website, went live on May 6. The website aims to disseminate information on pulses and the International Year of Pulses. Along with the members of the Pulse Association of the Philippines, we continue to gather information on possible activities we can participate in for the rest of the year to celebrate 2016 International Year of the Pulses. One of the major noodle makers in the country informed us that they were able to evaluate the pulse flour sample we sent through an importer. They were able to incorporate 15% of pulse flour in the noodles and result was acceptable. According to their R&D staff, it s now a question of supply and price of the pulse flour. USDBC May 2016 Monthly Report Page 2

pulses, including split yellow peas, lentils, green peas, red kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, and baby lima beans, in fillings for mooncakes. This month, Ms.

3 Vietnam Last month, we had a meeting with Mr. Kao Sieu Luc, the General Director and the owner of Asia Bakery & Confectionery Pte. Ent., the largest bakery chain in Vietnam that also has outlets in Cambodia. Mr. Kao is interested in experimenting with the use of U.S. pulses, including split yellow peas, lentils, green peas, red kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, and baby lima beans, in fillings for mooncakes. This month, Ms. Dang Uyen Linh, the director of TMT Co., Ltd., our major importer in Vietnam had kept us updated that TMT had sent 10 kilograms of Yellow Split peas to Mr. Kao. We also contacted Rebecca Bratter and Ron Oneto and informed them about Mr. Kao s requests for samples of baby lima beans. in Vietnam. As a result, we are currently working with a U.S. supplier on the baby lima sample shipment. We also contacted Chef Haryanto Makmoer, a well-known Chef in Indonesia who has a lot of experience in producing pea and bean pastes, to help Mr. Kao in June. Singapore This month, we continued to follow up on the trade leads that were sent out resulting from the Food and Hotel Asia show in Singapore last month. Cambodia In this month, we kept working with the U.S. Meat Export Federation and the U.S. Potato Board on a Chef s Camp in Phnom Penh. This is a 1-day event for of the leading chefs in Cambodia. It will be held at the Raffles Hotel, June 15, A presentation on U.S. pulses and their preparation will be followed by a cooking demonstration, highlighting dishes featuring U.S. dry beans and other pulses. The event will also include a reception and product preparation competition. Other Ms. Pornnicha Sathujarun, USDBC Regional Representative attended THAIFEX-World of Food Asia It was an international trade exhibition for food and beverages, food technology and retail and franchises in Asia, organized during May in Bangkok, Thailand. At the show, we met with Ken Davis, Managing Director of Spectrum Ingredients, a local importer of U.S. pulse flours. Ken revealed that the show this year was a little slow, but they were good opportunities to promote U.S. pulse flours and they received several inquiries. They displayed U.S. precooked garbanzo flour and yellow split pea flour at their booth. In addition, they developed a macaroon using about 15% of U.S. chickpea flour and conducted food sampling for the booth visitors. USDBC May 2016 Monthly Report Page 3

4 We also had an opportunity to introduce ourselves to Mr. Teoh Kak Ling, General Manager of Sun Beans Foods Industries, a snack manufacturer based in Penang, Malaysia. They displayed several fried snack products at their booth including fried garbanzo, broad beans, and whole green peas. Mr. Teoh revealed that they currently purchase the raw materials from different sources including Australia, Canada, UK, and Ukraine. He is willing to work with U.S. suppliers and is interested to take part at our upcoming technical training programs. Another potential contact was MMK Spices Sdn. Bhd, Malaysian importer and exporter of spices, nuts, ghee, medicinal herbs, and pulses including garbanzo, lentils, and yellow split peas. We will keep working with these two companies on the possibility to import U.S. dry pulses and pulse ingredients. On May 16 th, we received an from FAS Bangkok regarding a U.S. Embassy Independence Day reception that will be held on June 30 th. The USDBC ASEAN Representative will work with U.S. Embassy in including U.S. pulses in the menu for reception and providing products for tasting and displays during the event. This month, we also completed work on EMP and GBI proposals for the 2017 USDBC UES. We submitted an EMP proposal involving training for major research chefs and HRI users with the Culinary Institute of America in Singapore and a GBI proposal for a social media campaign to highlight pulses and IYOP in Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. We also proposed to partner with WISHH on Culinary Training for chefs and culinary students in Cambodia and the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council on a competition for the use of U.S. pulses by traditional food producers in Indonesia. The latter two activities are GBI projects. E14MXASEA4: Providing Southeast Asian Buyers with Greater Technical Knowledge of the U.S. Dry Bean Industry We continued to work with the Council on preparations for the U.S. Dry Bean trade mission in September. We worked with NCI and Randy Duckworth to draft the Technical Workshop that will take place at NCI, September 19 and 20. We also communicated with Randy on the travel itinerary for the buyers. The 6 th Quarter Report for this project was drafted and submitted to Rebecca on May 25 th. E14MXASEA6: Diversifying Southeast Asia s Fried Snack Market Ms. Kate Lydin, Project Manager, Research and Evaluation, and Ms. Kristine Farwell, Research Analyst, of Bryant Christie International (BCI), traveled to Indonesia and the Philippines in January, to conduct the Technical Assessment associated with this project. This month, we reviewed the draft technical assessment report and provided comments. The 6 th Quarter Report for this project was completed and submitted to Rebecca on May 18 th. M15GXGBI26: Additional Educational Activities for Southeast Asian Health Professionals This month, we continued to coordinate with Dr. Chanida Pachotikarn, the President of the Thai Dietetic Association (TDA), about the backup receipts for the expenses associated with the technical workshops and learned from her that the TDA s accountant will be available to provide these supporting document with the final invoice for reimbursement to us in early June. Three trip reports related to this project were completed this month and will be submitted shortly. We continued work on a success story for this project. GBI: Strengthening of the U.S. Market Position for Cambodia The organizers of CAMFOOD have provided us with a proposal on the booths and design of the USA Pavilion for this show. They also sent us the floor plan of the USA Pavilion. With the GBI funding available, we have decided to subsidize the booth costs for U.S. cooperators and importers of U.S. foods that take space in the U.S. Pavilion. We sent out an to every cooperator and importer to ask them if they will participate and how many booths they would like to take. After one week, around half of the participants signified their interest to participate in CAMFOOD at the USA USDBC May 2016 Monthly Report Page 4

5 Pavilion with us. We will continue to follow up with the remaining cooperators and importers on their participation. M15GXGBI01: Increasing the Knowledge of US Foods in Vietnam The Final Project Report related to this project was completed and will be submitted shortly. USDBC May 2016 Monthly Report Page 5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Café Malaysia The 5 th International Café Equipment, Supplies & Technology Exhibition

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Café Malaysia The 5 th International Café Equipment, Supplies & Technology Exhibition EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SHOW NAME Café Malaysia 2019 ABOUT The 5 th International Café Equipment, Supplies & Technology Exhibition GUEST-OF-HONOUR Yang Berhormat Dr Ong Kian Ming Deputy Minister of International