'Malaysia Food Fiesta' Exposes Country's Foodstuff Potential In Thailand

BANGKOK, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- The 'Malaysia Food Fiesta' programme has managed to draw the interest of importers in Thailand to bring in Malaysian food and beverage products into the kingdom. Agriculture counsellor at the Malaysian Embassy in Thailand, Salwahanim Mohd Nazir said the embassy was discussing with several Thai importing companies which had shown interest in distributing such Malaysian products. The agriculture counsellor office as the embassy here had for the first time organised the 'Malaysia Food Fiesta' last December at an international hotel in Bangkok and the second time at the embassy on Aug 31, this year. The programme, said Salwahanim, was aimed at exposing Malaysian food products to importers in Thailand, Malaysians residing in this country, tourists and the Thai people. "The food fiesta is our promotional effort in finding a niche market for Malaysian food and beverage (F&B) products, especially from the Agromas brand," she said. Sahwahanim said Malaysian food products had a huge market potential in Thailand, especially in the halal food segment. She is confident that Malaysian F&B product export to Thai will increaase with the coming signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on agriculture between the two neighbouring countries. The comprehensive MoU, covering various fields of agriculture and the agro-based industry, is expected to be signed this coming December. The entry of more Malaysian agro-based products into Thailand following the signing of the MoU would contribute to reducing the agriculture trade deficit between the two countries, said Salwahanim. According to the statistics last year, Malaysia imported about US$969.34 million (RM4 billion) worth of agriculture products from Thailand, but exported only US$387,740 (RM1.6 million) worth of its agriculture products to the kingdom, with the trade deficit reaching US$581.61 million (RM2.4 billion). --BERNAMA