Food-makers 'should use Singapore as springboard'

At the "Business Matching of Singaporean and Thai Food Manufacturers" event, held by the Thailand Productivity Institute and the Standards and Productivity and Innovation Board of Singapore (SPRING Singapore), Pornsil Patchrintanakul, deputy secretary-general of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade of Thailand, said there was high potential for the Kingdom to increase its food exports to Singapore, where demand for food and agricultural crops continues to rise.

"Although the trade value in food between both countries is not high, at only $300 million to $500 million a year, insecurity over the supply of food and fuel will raise the trade value dramatically in the future," he said.

Pornsil said that despite the small Singaporean population, the market remained attractive because about 10 million tourists visit the island-state every year.

Besides, Singapore has the world's largest port, which means Thailand can deliver its products to countries such as Brunei and the smaller islands of Indonesia.

To strengthen the industry in the long term, he said Thailand and Singapore should boost cooperation in four areas: food security, food safety, the environment and biotechnology.

Loh Soi Min, deputy director of SPRING Singapore's lifestyle division, said Singapore's food industry had been focusing on building export markets steadily over the past few years. Its food exports grew by more than 15 per cent last year to US$8 billion (Bt272 billion).

Today, food products from Singapore are exported to many countries, including Asean members, nations in the Middle East and Europe, the United States and Russia.

"Thailand has plentiful raw materials and know-how in the food-processing industry, which is what we are looking for. We hope business-matching will boost the volume of food trade, especially in the SME [small and medium-sized enterprises] sector, between the two countries," she said.

She said the trend in the food manufacturing industry had shifted from basic products such as noodles to innovative products such as functional beverages and local cuisine in convenient ready-to-eat packages.

Mangkorn Dhanasarnsilp, vice chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, said Thai manufacturers needed to develop products that continuously meet food-safety standards.

"We cannot be indifferent over GMO [genetically modified organism] crops, which will play a significant role in alternative fuels in the future. Therefore, we have to speed up GMO labelling to meet customer demand," he said.

Thailand Productivity Institute executive director Phanit Laosirirat said Thai food-makers should engage in business-matching with foreign partners such as Singaporean firms, which would help them to improve their production and to market on a global basis.