The 2007 Asean Petroleum Forum and Economic and Trade Investment Fair will explore the volatility of petroleum prices and their impact on economic development, the implementation of refined-petroleum products and the prospects for petroleum market development.

Government officials from Asean and experts from petrochemical and petroleum research organisations will speak.

Nearly 100 Asean enterprises dealing in crude oil and petroleum end products, investment companies and financial institutions will attend.

Pattaya City and the Asia-Pacific Economic and Trade Promotion Association are joint hosts.

Toppings market

Thai manufacturers of ice-cream toppings and related products should explore the Italian market, as that country is known for its confectionery, not just pizza and spaghetti, says Duangkamol Jiambutr, director of the Thai Trade Centre.

She said Italian ice-cream was world-famous.

Last year in Italy there were 80,000 producers of ice-cream, confectionery, bread, pizza and grilled meat.

The industry grew by 31 per cent last year, of which bread generated ¤5.4 billion (Bt251.44 billion), confectionery ¤350 million and cakes ¤240 million.

She listed potential Thai exports to support those Italian products as frozen and dried fruit, sweets, crackers and garnishes, as well as print advertising.

German appetite

Department stores in Europe are interested in purchasing a wide variety of Thai goods to create greater variety of products in their shops.

Germany-based Metro Cash and Carry (MMC) is a department-store operator and importer supplying food merchandise to leading German department stores such as Kaufhof.

Pronpimon Charoenpao, director of the Thai Trade Centre in Frankfurt, said MMC purchased about 100 shipping containers of Thai canned pineapple a year.

The group is negotiating with Thai exporters about importing seasonings, snacks, salad dressing, dried foods, instant noodles and finished frozen foods as well as non-food items.

Farmer's Land, a leading canned- and frozen-goods importer and distributor in Germany, is also interested in importing fresh fruit.

It is looking at bringing in mangoes and pineapples, dim sum, tempura shrimp and ready-to-eat cooked jasmine rice.

Farmer's Land supplies about 10,000 hypermarkets and supermarkets in the country.

And Switzerland-based Becher Consulting and Marketing plans to set up a Thai-style spa, which it says will be the first high-end spa in the country.

Pronpimon said Becher executives had told her they were also interested in importing Thai foods.