Asia’s Largest Food Show Underway in Tokyo

FOODEX Japan – Asia’s largest food trade show and one of the largest in the world – is underway in Tokyo. The event, which runs through March 11, is an important venue for U.S. beef and pork exporters because it attracts thousands of buyers and other food industry professionals from across Japan and several other key Asian markets.

Philip Seng, president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) offers more details about FOODEX in the attached audio report. He notes that in addition to the major meat-exporting countries that have traditionally exhibited at FOODEX, other competitors such as Chile and Mexico – which have economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with Japan – have a growing presence at the event. European suppliers such as Spain and Ireland are also prominent at FOODEX.

Seng adds that Japan’s recent surge in tourism – foreign visitors to Japan increased nearly 50 percent last year to about 20 million – has made it an even more attractive target for food suppliers looking to capitalize on growth in Japan’s hotel and restaurant sectors. Japan is projecting tourism to further expand to about 30 million visitors per year by 2020, when Tokyo will host the Summer Olympics.

TRANSCRIPT:

Joe Schuele: FOODEX Japan, one of the world’s largest food trade shows, is underway in Tokyo. In this U.S. Meat Export Federation report, USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng explains why the event is such an important venue for U.S. beef and pork exporters.

Philip Seng: FOODEX is the largest trade show in Asia, it’s an opportunity for us to take a look at competitors’ products, take a look at the products and the directions the Japanese companies are going in the market. They debut the products they are developing and launching. In our booth, we always launch a new theme. This year we’re going to be taking a closer look at processed products, and also barbecue. And so it’s a wonderful venue, over 100,000 people attend the show in a period of five days. So it’s really an important event for USMEF to position itself in the industry.

Joe Schuele: Seng adds that Japan’s beef and pork market seem to attract more and more competitors each year, especially with the recent surge in tourism.

Philp Seng: Spain has become much more active in the Japanese market. We’re seeing Ireland is becoming much more active in the Japanese market. Chile – we’re seeing some Chilean effort there that has been strong. Mexico has been extremely strong at this show, and so as we take a look at this, it’s not just the traditional suppliers, it’s a lot of these new entrants into the market that are actually doing quite well. Some of this is because they have had favorable situations when it comes to their FTAs and ETAs with Japan. So it really is an aggressive and very competitive market. We’re also seeing that there is a very vibrant tourist industry in Japan. Last year there were 20 million visitors in Japan and it is expected by the time the Olympics come there will be closer to 30 million, by the year 2020, so that’s tremendous growth for the foodservice market, the hotel-restaurant market. So like with most markets that are this big, whether it’s the beef or the pork side, there’s probably north of 25 countries that are very active in that market today.

Joe Schuele: For more on this and other promotional activities for U.S. beef, pork and lamb, please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Joe Schuele.