Russian food producers ready to promote their products in Hong Kong
HONG KONG, August 15. /TASS/. Russian food producers are ready to promote their products in Hong Kong taking advantage of the fact that China has shown great interest in Russian food, Elena Ozerova, head of the export department of Essen Production, told TASS at the international food exhibition Food Expo 2025 which is underway in Hong Kong.
"Hong Kong is a megalopolis with a population of 7.5 million people and at the same time it is one of the largest economic centers in the world," Ozerova said.
At the exhibition her company presented such brands as Makheev and Essen Confectionary Factory.
"This is the sauce segment - jam, ketchup and mayonnaise and also - chocolate, wafer and chewing candies," she said.
"This is our first time in Hong Kong, we explored local stores, looked at what was on the shelves. We found out that they also have a division into convenience stores and hypermarkets, which represent a more premium segment. Therefore, we can offer our products for every store here," Ozerova noted.
She is confident that Russian manufacturers should promote their products in Hong Kong, since the city is not just a rich market, "but also a gateway to China."
As Marsel Kamaliev, regional manager for Southeast Asia at Essen Production, recalled, in 2024, a boom in Russian products began in China.
"But because the demand was very high, local manufacturers began to pass off their goods as Russian. And this misleads the buyer - he sees "Russia" the label, tries it and gets disappointed," Kamaliev said.
"In other words, we call on Russian food producers to more intensively present and advertise their goods in Hong Kong, throughout China, while local residents are interested, and also to demonstrate what genuine goods from Russia are. If we remain silent and do not show our product, explain that it is really high-quality, we will simply lose. Therefore, we must act!" he said.
Interest in new products
When asked which Russian food products are most popular in China, where food culture is very different from the Russian one, the representatives of Russian food brands said that the younger generation of Chinese today travels a lot around the world and gets acquainted with new food traditions. So, they are interested in trying new products.
"If we talk about jam, which we really want to promote in China, I would like to note that, although it is a Western product, breakfasts with jam and toast have become popular among young Chinese," Ozerova said.
"Mayonnaise is not eaten much in China, but we want to gradually reverse this trend," she added.
Anatoly Kargapolov, Russia’s Consul General in Hong Kong and Macau, also shares the view that Russian food suppliers should be more active in Hong Kong.
"Our consular office is working with the Hong Kong government to create favorable conditions for our exporters to enter the local market. Products from our country can be seen more and more often on the shelves of city stores. I am sure that Hong Kongers would be happy to see an expansion of the range of our goods and the opening of both new retail outlets and restaurants," Kargapolov said.
The Food Expo 2025 is open to the public from August 15 to 18. It is being held on five floors of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, features about 1,890 participants from 36 countries and regions. These are producers and distributors of food products, kitchen goods, and cosmetics. The exhibition "is designed to strengthen Hong Kong's status as a leading business center for the food industry not only in mainland China, but also throughout Asia and the world," the organizers of the exposition say.
