An appetite for trade and more

Chinese buyers seeking quality imported food, wines and hospitality supplies, and hospitality traders, importers and distributors seeking business opportunities, will all be heading to the annual Food Hospitality China FHC China 2012 food and hospitality trade show. Last year 29,008 attended FHC China's Global Food and Hospitality Expo.

The 16th FHC show to be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) from November 14 to 16 will be even bigger. This year's fair will cover 55,000 square meters of space over five halls with international food, beverages and hospitality suppliers displaying more products than ever.

"For 2012 the show has grown 25 percent in space more than last year, with 1,500 companies from over 70 countries and regions participating including 47 pavilions," Brendan Jennings, the General Manager of China International Exhibitions (CIE) Ltd, the organizer of the FHC, told the Global Times. He said that FHC 2012 has a number of new pavilions this year including pavilions from the European Union, Central America, the Andean Community of Nations, Wales, Singapore and one hall devoted to wine and spirits.

WACS endorsement

The exhibits are the main focus of FHC and alongside the show itself, to support the exhibition and attract more specialist trade visitors, there is a varied program of competitions, product demonstrations, seminars and tutorials.

The 14th FHC China International Culinary Arts Competition will receive the endorsement of WACS, the World Association of Chefs' Societies. This is the first time WACS has supported any event in China and the decision is seen as recognizing the considerable developments made by the Chinese culinary sector in the last decade, according to Jennings. "This year the focus will be on Asian cuisine rather than Western cuisine," he said.

"The goal of WACS has always been to bring chefs from around the world together for learning and friendship. We hope to see the Chinese chefs involved in WACS and participating in events around the world in the future. This represents a great opportunity for Chinese chefs to develop their skills in the international community and also a great opportunity for chefs around the world to learn more about Chinese cuisine and its gastronomic heritage," said Gissur Gudmundsson, the President of World Association of Chefs' Societies.

Participating chefs can select between 15 competitions divided into live cooking of meats and seafood, bakery displays, vegetable and ice carving, buffet displays and more.

The rules and regulations for the competitions follow WACS guidelines. The competitions will be judged by WACS approved judges to an international standard comparable to any WACS endorsed event.

Apart from some regular events like the Gourmet Team Challenge Gala Lunch, the Ultimate Barista Challenge and the Carpigiani Gelato University, this show will also feature new events like BOGARI, a creative and fascinating drinks show, and AHTEC, the Hospitality Technology Exhibition and Conference.

Wine the highlight

The biggest structural change of the exhibition this year is the dedicated hall for wine and spirits in East Hall 7. The Wine and Spirits China sector will feature 400 companies from 20 leading wine producing nations.

"This year we have divided the exhibition much more clearly by product. Ninety-five percent of the wine is in hall E7. For example, we have wine pavilions from Austria, France and Spain here and food pavilions from the three countries in the food hall N4," Jennings said. "It reflects the growing demand for wine and the increase in the number of wine companies coming here - they want their own identity and own specialization."

Visitors can register which products they are most interested in by choosing to be a "food visitor" or "wine visitor," - separate badging makes it clear for exhibitors.

The FHC China specialist wine show will feature a number of events including The Wine Revolution in China conference, the China Sommeliers Wine and Spirits Challenge, the China National Wine Services Team Final, the Wine Theatre and Wine Education Seminars.

Another new feature is the ProWine Tasting Zone, covering an area of 500 square meters. There will be over 300 international wines offered for tasting in the ProWine Tasting Zone, selected from the winning wines of the MUNDUS VINI 2012 wine competition. As well as having a chance to sample the winning wines visitors can also expect a top-class seminar program covering topical subjects for the wine industry.

"The combination of FHC's 16 years successful track record, which has been hosting international food and wine companies in the most successful and recognized trade show in the country, with Messe Dusseldorf's ProWine Tasting Zone from the world's most prestigious wine exhibition, guarantee wine samples for wine professionals of the highest caliber, not seen before in China," said Jennings.

And on November 14 themed presentations for The Wine Revolution in China conference, will be delivered by four high-profile key speakers: the leading wine expert Michel Rolland, the consultant editor of Decanter, Steven Spurrier, World Champion Sommelier 2010-2013 Gerard Basset (OBE), and the owner of Chile's Montes Wines, Aurelio Montes.

Italy Pavilion

Italy began participating in FHC as a national pavilion organized by the Italian Trade Commission in 2004. This year the nation will return with around 60 Italian companies, occupying one food pavilion in the food hall N4 and another in the wine hall E7.

"In the past two years the importation of Italian food and beverages has kept increasing at nearly 50 percent annually, especially with our wine," the trade commissioner, Maurizio Forte, told the Global Times.

According to the Shanghai Office of Italian Trade Commission, in 2011 the imported wine from Italy to China increased by 91.4 percent compared to that of 2010.

"To quench visitors' thirsts and demonstrate the diversity of Italian food and wine, we are organizing eight seminars in our wine theater area, focusing on various topics regarding Italian wine (thanks to the support of Enoteca Italiana, a unique public institution in Italy that stores, promotes and sells Italian wine); and in our food theater, five seminars with live demonstrations will focus on cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, pasta, coffee and dessert, as well as pizza," Forte said.

According to Forte, the Italy Pavilion will continue to accentuate wine to keep a strong presence in the sector in the coming years. This year the pavilion in hall E7, Simply Italian Great Wines, will showcase nearly 20 wine companies organized by International Exhibition Management.

The Italy Pavilion is also organizing a delegation of 30 people from China, food and beverage importers, distributors, and managers, who will visit and attend the seminars.

"We believe these key players active in the business are not just the existing and potential clients of Italian suppliers but also represent a power on the local side to promote and spread Italian food and wine culture in China," Forte said.

"Italian restaurants are a strong promoter for the consumption of Italian food and wine in big cities. In Shanghai you will find around 70 genuine Italian restaurants, the leading number of Western restaurants in town. We see this number growing and that our cuisine has been accepted and is popular with local people," Forte said.

Spain Pavilion

This will be the 12th time Spain has participated in the FHC. "Over the past few years, the Spain Pavilion has become more sophisticated, and is seeing more quality organic food. This year, about 81 companies, compared to 68 last year, will participate in the show," Carlos Pascual, the Consul of Economic and Commercial Office of Spain in Shanghai, told the Global Times. The increase shows the Spanish presence has grown nearly 17.4 percent and the Spain Pavilion is going to be one of the largest.

A wide variety of exhibits from Spanish companies offer not only famous Spanish products like wine and olive oil, but also show some quality produce like fresh and cured meat, chocolates and candy, canned food, dressings, spices and condiments.

According to China's General Administration of Customs, in 2011 Spain became the leading provider of olive oil to China, with a market share of 57.75 percent. Olive oil exports to China reached 19,424 tons, twice the previous year's exports. And last year China imported 7.4 million liters of wines from Spain and 80,820 tons of Spanish meat.

One of the new highlights in this year's Spain Pavilion will be 13 traders who specialize in organic food. "Since the Chinese market demand for healthy safer food is increasing sharply, Spanish companies are ready to match these needs," Pascual said.

"And this year we have a mission - we will introduce small Spanish companies attending the fair to the way the Chinese market works," he added.

Canada Pavilion

As one of FHC's long-term participants since 2000, Canada will have 16 Canadian companies exhibiting. With a Quality is in Our Nature theme, the pavilion will exhibit packaged food and products including ice-wine, maple syrup and ground flaxseed that are "specialties of Canada." And Canada Beef and Canada Pork will continue to exhibit in the Meat Hall, separate from the Canada Pavilion.

"Canadian food and beverage products are perceived by Chinese traders and consumers as safe, nutritious and of high quality. We have developed or maintained 41 Canadian or Chinese companies of Canadian food suppliers in East China. The companies import food, beverages and seafood products from Canada on a regular basis. We expect that the list will be expanded in 2013," Henry Deng, the Trade Commissioner of Agriculture and AgriFood Canada in Shanghai, told the Global Times.

And 22 industry visitors from Food Beverage Canada and the Canadian Food Exporters Association will tour the show to gather market information and establish contacts. Including these industry visitors, there will be over 40 Canadian participants at FHC this year making it Canada's largest participation to the show ever.　

On November 14, Canada will host a Savour Canada event, which will be a chef-conducted cooking demonstration featuring Canadian beef, seafood, pork, canola oil, ice-wine and maple syrup, for 80 media and industry guests. All the Canadian food ingredients will be sourced locally.

US Pavilion

"Last year we had over 60 exhibitors in total, and for the first time we had USA Wine and Spirits. Having been involved in the show for the third year, I feel the buyers in China are becoming more and more sophisticated," Keith Schneller, Agricultural Director of US Agricultural Trade Office in Shanghai, told the Global Times.

The change this year is that the US Pavilion plans to increase its services to US companies. "We are hoping to provide our exhibitors with more space to have one-on-one meetings with clients," Schneller said.

Other than food and wine companies, the US Pavilion will bring a number of food associations, such as the American Pistachio Growers, the California Olive Oil Council and the US Potato Board to FHC. It will be the first time the California Olive Oil Council will exhibit at the FHC.

"FHC is a stable, well-organized, clean platform for buyers and sellers to meet. Though it's also a very competitive platform, I think it provides good opportunities especially for new-to-market companies to look at the trends and meet different buyers from across the China," Schneller added.