Food ingredient suppliers move in

With the demand for healthy foods set to grow in Vietnam, foreign firms look to profit, Photo: Le Toan

Josef Bamberger, CEO of Soja Austria, said that the Asian market is the biggest soy market in the world. “Vietnam is our primary focus, and we are working intensively to learn more about the available business opportunities.”

Soja Austria specialises in the distribution of non-GMO, full-fat soy products worldwide. As pioneers of GMO-free soy products, the company has a fixed place in the recipes of the most important food producers in Europe. It started business activities in Vietnam 18 months ago with two local distributors.

“We saw potential in Vietnam, as the market is moving very strongly, especially in the fields of confectionery, chocolate, baking, and soy milk. Thus, Soja Austria set a target for the next three years to deliver 200 tonnes of soy products per month to the market,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands’ Barentz is specialising in distributing nutritious and natural food ingredients. The firm has been present in the Vietnamese market for over two years, based in Ho Chi Minh City.

“We see a huge growth potential for the food ingredient market in the Southeast Asia region including Vietnam. At present, we are active in the country’s dairy and bakery fields. We have plans to expand our presence in the market and branch into the pharmaceutical and animal feed industries as well,” said Harald Mullens, general manager of Barentz Asia Pacific.

According to Mullens, there is a strong trend towards using more natural products in Europe and America as people are keen to move away from synthetics. Southeast Asia in particular and Asia in general have been lagging behind these markets due to their use of synthetics in food production. However, there is a growing trend where Asian and Vietnamese people are beginning to seek out more natural products, and Barentz aims to tap into the field.

Morinaga Nutritional Foods supplies functional ingredients for food products, supplements, and pharmaceuticals to manufacturers around the world. Its product lines include probiotics, lactoferrin, lactulose, and milk peptide.

“Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing markets due to its young population and increasing disposable income. We want to introduce functional ingredients for the food and beverage sector to cater to the sophisticated needs of consumers,” said Yosuke Muto, sales manager of Morinaga Nutritional Foods.

Last week, more than 170 ingredient suppliers gathered at Food Ingredients Vietnam to display their high-quality, competitively priced food and beverage products. These products include amino acids, aromas, bakery supplies, cereals, coffee products, colourants, emulsifiers, enzymes, and more.

Food ingredients Vietnam attracted over 5,000 food industry professionals and stakeholders from the ASEAN-CLMV region, specialising in ingredient materials and food production. The event promised to benefit food enterprises seeking to join the new revolution sweeping through the food industry.

According to Business Monitor International (BMI), Vietnam’s food and beverage sector has regained its growth. BMI forecast the growth rate of the sector at 10.9 per cent in the 2017-2019 period, thanks to the increasing income of Vietnamese people and a trend towards high-value products.