ORIENTAL FOOD INDUSTRIES SEES STRONG EXPORT POTENTIAL FOR 'ZESS'

By Nasarudin Omar

MELAKA (Malaysia), Aug 18 (Bernama) -- Oriental Food Industries Holdings
Bhd, a leading manufacturer and exporter of snack food and confectioneries here,
sees strong export potential for "Zess" -- its chocolate rice crispy snack.

Executive Director Son Tong Leong said Zess, being the first of its kind
snack produced in Malaysia, received encouraging response since its launch early
this year.

"With this, we target to bring this new product overseas; to Vietnam,
Thailand, Indonesia and Middle East countries, and anticipate Zess exports to
outperform our local sales in the long term," he told Bernama after the
company's 14th Annual General Meeting Wednesday.

Established in 1978, Oriental Food has four manufacturing plants in Ayer
Keroh and 600 workers. It manufactures products under four categories, namely
snacks, wafers, potato snacks and bakery products.

"About 50 per cent of Oriental Food's products are exported overseas
including Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan, Europe, Africa and the
Middle East," he said.

Son said the company was also looking at China as its zero import duty for
food related products since early this year paved the way for plenty of
opportunities.

"The snack industry has much potential to grow and we have undertaken a
number of strategies to create brand awareness and broaden market share," he
added.

For the first quarter ended June 30, 2010, the group recorded a 43.6 per
cent increase in net profit to RM3 million (US$950,000) while its revenue rose
20.5 per cent to RM35.2 million (US$11.17 million).
-- BERNAMA