China and India to run pavilions at SL food exhibition in August
Global economic giants, China and India are expected to run pavilions at the Pro-food, Pro-pack 2015 Exhibition which will be held from 7 to 9 August at the BMICH for the second consecutive year.
Pakistan and Malaysia are also participating in a big way. Further, 20 more countries with 300 participants are expected to run stalls at this exhibition, it was revealed at the launch of this exhibition held in Colombo, this week.
This food, packaging and agriculture exhibition held for the 14th consecutive year is themed this year as “From the farm to the kitchen” depicting the entire chain of the food industry from the farm, to processing and then finally to the table of the consumer.
Aruna Weerakoon, Chairman, National Agribusiness Council, said that the purpose of the exhibition is to interact with the consumer and to infuse technology and development to the industries involved and here is a single location where the industry people could have access to the modern technology with the participation of the foreign countries.
He said that in addition to the modern technology that could be used in these industries that are to be exhibited, the talent of the youth where this forum would be turned into a platform for researchers of the universities would display their innovations in the connected industries.
He said that consumers too could take informed decisions by simply visiting this exhibition where they could go through the product profiles Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industries and Commerce speaking as Chief Guest, said that despite lower export revenues, the food processing industry exports showed a 14 per cent increase for 2014.
Export of food, feed, beverages and tobacco, he said, totalled US$317 million in 2014 while the figure for 2013 was $278 million. He pointed out that the direct packaging exports are almost equal to the country’s footwear and leather exports.
In the meantime there is apparent concern over the quality of food exports.
Ms Sunanda Weerasinghe, President, Sri Lanka Food Processors Association told the Business Times on the sidelines of the launch that some food items exported to Germany were turned back due to suspected pesticide and insecticides.
She said therefore, industry should be properly appraised of the high quality that they have to maintain in the export products. She said that to educate them, they have organised a seminar on March 13 where technology and science experts in the calibre of Prof. Upali Samarajeewa, a top food scientist, would be addressing the seminar.