The overall revenue of Taiwan’s food industry reached NT$618.4 billion in 2016 and is expected to top NT$620 billion this year
Asia’s Super 5-in-1 Food Expo opened on Wednesday, June 21, to showcase Taiwan’s well-integrated, diverse and highly competitive food industry. At the joint opening ceremony for the Food Expo, First Vice President of Honduras Ricardo Antonio Alvarez Arias highlighted the trade show’s importance in promoting food products from the Central American country such as coffee and other agricultural products. R.O.C. Vice President Chen Chien-jen introduced Alvarez as the first foreign leader to attend the opening ceremony of Food Expo.
Taiwan’s food industry represents the country’s culture landscape as well as a huge business opportunity, Taiwan’s vice president said. The overall revenue of Taiwan’s food industry reached NT$618.4 billion in 2016 and is expected to top NT$620 billion this year, he pointed out.
The 5-in-1 Food Expo covers every part of Taiwan’s food industry supply chain, namely agriculture and aquaculture, refrigeration, processed food, food machinery, and packaging equipment. The nation’s major agricultural counties, including Yunlin, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Hualien, Taitung, and Chiayi City, are in the show to present their local quality agricultural products.
One of the highlights of the trade show is HALAL Taiwan (Taiwan International Halal Expo), an expo spotlighting halal food and product certification in Taiwan. Now in its fifth year, HALAL Taiwan has a special relevance this year under the government’s “New Southbound Policy.” The policy aims to enhance Taiwan’s interactions with Southeast Asian countries, which are home to a large Muslim population. At a separate opening ceremony for HALAL Taiwan, Walter Yeh, CEO and president of TAITRA, pointed out that 60 percent of the world’s 1.7 billion Muslims reside in Asia, presenting huge business potential for Taiwanese food businesses. HALAL Taiwan is TAITRA’s first major event targeting halal product certification since it established the Taiwan Halal Center on April 21.
This year, Indonesia, India, Turkey, China, Iran and other countries have also joined HALAL Taiwan. Covering food and products as well as logistics services, the diverse expo demonstrates the effort that Taiwanese manufacturers have put into developing the halal food export industry.
The Food Expo also includes Food Taipei, Foodtech & Pharmatech Taipei, Taipei Pack and Taiwan HORECA, which all run until June 24 at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1 and Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center with a record-breaking 1,717 exhibitors at 4,011 booths.
台北國際食品五展開動！
參展規模歷屆最高
台北國際食品五展於六月廿一日盛大開幕，展示台灣完整、多元及具有競爭力的食品產業。聯合五展包括「台北國際食品展」、「台北國際食品加工設備暨製藥機械展」、「台北國際包裝工業展」、「台灣國際飯店暨餐飲設備用品展」及「台灣國際清真產品展」，接連四天於台北世貿一館及南港展覽館舉行。五展主辦單位外貿協會表示，展覽總計1,717家參展商使用4,011個攤位，為規模歷屆最高，並預期吸引超過67,000名國內外買主到場。
參展商包括來自全球36個國家及地區的廠商，除了熱門的美、日、韓、中美洲等國家外，新加入包括義大利、葡萄牙、波羅的海等國。出席五展聯合開幕典禮的宏都拉斯副總統阿瓦雷斯表示，台北國際食品展是一個展示宏國優良咖啡以及農產品的絕佳平台。中華民國副總統陳建仁致詞時表示，阿瓦雷斯副總統是歷年來出席食品展開幕典禮位階最高的外賓。
陳副總統也提到，食品產業代表台灣的文化風景，也是重大商機。他指出，台灣食品產業總產值去年高達新台幣六千一百八十億元，今年可望突破六千兩百億元。台北國際食品五展結合上、中、下游產業，包括農水產、冷凍、加工食品、食品機械及包裝等。台灣的農業重鎮包括雲林、高雄、台南、花蓮和嘉義皆有設館展出特色精緻農產品。
食品五展的重點之一是國內唯一針對清真認證食品、產品的專業展—「台灣國際清真產品展
」。今年第五年舉辦的清真產品展在政府的新南向政策下更具重要性。在貿協特別為清真食品舉辦的開幕典禮中，貿協秘書長葉明水表示，全球十七億的穆斯林人口有六成在亞洲，穆斯林商機巨大。清真產品展也是貿協在四月廿一日成立清真推廣中心後首個舉辦的清真產品相關展覽。本屆有印尼、印度、土耳其、中國、伊朗等國加入，更有清真物流業者展出。
食品機械展中將舉辦「智慧機械產品競賽」，邀請產學專家現場評選擁有生產力4.0及智能化製造的展商，包括烘焙螺旋攪拌機、智慧互聯製藥膜衣/糖衣機及智慧秤重物聯管理系統等，加入如物聯網、機器人或自動化智慧系統等智慧化元素，讓國外買主看到臺灣具備智慧生產實力。由於近年來多數東協國家紛紛看重食品工業發展，各類食品加工及包裝機械之需求提高，也大幅增加臺商拓展海外市場的商機。
