Photos: Estonian enterprises at Asia’s largest food innovation exhibition
Joint stand of Estonian enterprises set up with the support of Enterprise Estonia at food and beverage innovation exhibition SIAL China 2021 from 18-20 May. Estonian enterprises participated at the big event taking place in Shanghai remotely and were represented by their local Chinese partners.
Export adviser Ilaria Perla in China was on site offering her assistance to the Estonian enterprises. She says that SIAL China has established itself as a leading international fair for professionals in the food industry. “This is the biggest food innovation exhibition in Asia offering local as well as international enterprises the chance to expand their marketing opportunities,” Perla said.
According to Enterprise Estonia’s export adviser, remote participation has been tried and tested before. “Nobody from Estonia took part in the China International Import Expo in November. The same applied this time – Estonian enterprises were represented by their Chinese representatives and collaboration partners”, Perla said.
Haage Joogid, which has previously participated in fairs with the help of Enterprise Estonia, introduced their natural mineral water to the Chinese market. Their export manager Xenia Joost says that during the corona time, it is necessary to be flexible. Had we been there physically, it would have definitely been better, but entry to China is hindered and time consuming at the moment, which is why we are using the help of our local reseller,” Joost said, aiming to introduce the brand and locate more contacts from retail chains.
Siidrikoda, with its craft cider and sparkling wines, wants to break into the Chinese market and has been working hard towards this for over a year. “Our main goal is to find a local reseller, an agent or a distributor of beverages who knows how to focus the attention on the specialty of our northern raw material and the quality of our products. Participating in the exhibition is a great opportunity for us to request feedback on our current products in order to better understand local preferences”, said Export Manager of Siidrikoda Ingrid Grünvald, pointing out that it is also important to consider the fact that cider as a product category itself is new to the Chinese people, largely unknown and yet to be discovered.
Seven enterprises were included in the Estonian joint stand: Tanker Brewery OÜ, Lahhentagge OÜ, Saku Õlletehase AS, Nostam OÜ, Haage Joogid OÜ, Siidrikoda OÜ and Peenjoogivabrik Nudist OÜ.
SIAL China exhibition area is 180,000 square metres, which is almost 20 times larger than the Estonian Exhibition and Convention Centre. In total, more than 4500 exhibitors will take part in the fair and more than 120,000 representatives of the food and beverage sector will visit the fair.
Participation in the fair is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.