CBI and VIETRADE sign partnership agreement

HANOI – Fresh Studio’s client CBI has signed a partnership agreement with VIETRADE for its export coaching program. CBI promotes the export of products from developing countries to the EU market.

On Wednesday 17 September 2013, the Deputy director General of VIETRADE (Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency), Mr. Do Kim Lang, and Country Manager Vietnam of CBI (Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries, agency of Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Mr. Koos van Eyk, signed a partnership agreement for CBI’s Export Coaching Program (ECP) on the food ingredient sector of Vietnam.

Export Coaching Program
The ECP is developed for ambitious entrepreneurs in countries as Vietnam. The aim of the program is to promote and enhance the competitive position of value added food ingredient products for export to the EU market. The programme is exclusively for small and medium size enterprises in Vietnam and helps companies to define an export marketing strategy, adjust processes and procedures, coach personnel on market requirement and create contacts with potential clients in Europe.

Audits Food Ingredient Companies
Fresh Studio recruited the first companies for the ECP program in the food ingredient sector in early 2013 and during August-September 2013 audited these companies to assess the potential to export their products to the EU market. Next step in the program will be the make an action plan per company after which the actual export capacity building will start.

More information
For more information about the export Programme please visit the CBI website or contact CBI through foodasia@cbi.eu (Subject: ECP Food Ingredients Vietnam).Also interesting to read:

Fresh Studio presenting at Asia Fruit Logistica

Fresh Studio was invited to give a presentation during the business forum of the Asia Fruit Logistica. Fresh Studio’s managing director Siebe van Wijk gave a presentation titled: “Safe food for Urban Asia: Innovations in sourcing and marketing”.

The Asia Fruit Logistica is Asia’s leading trade show for the fresh produce sector. The Asia Fruit Logistica of 2013 attracted more than 6,500 top decision-makers from 64 countries to Hong Kong. For the first time, the team from the AsiaFruitCongress organized a business forum during the fair. Jan Doldersum of Rijk Zwaan (the Netherlands) and Siebe van Wijk of Fresh Studio (Vietnam) were invited to give a presentation about production innovations in Asia.

Jan Doldersum started with a interesting presentation about innovations as “roof top farming in Asia”, “Vertical farming systems” and “Hydroponic lettuce production using LED lights”.

Siebe’s presentation focused on the demand of Vietnamese consumers with regard to safe produce. The results are based on a large vegetable shop census consumer and intercept interviews in Hanoi (for additional information see Vegetable market locations in Hanoi). How the consumer demand can be met by introducing innovations in production, was shown with results of the work of the Fresh Studio R&D team:

  • introduction of greenhouse farming systems with crop lines and rice husk substrate;
  • extensive testing of new higher yielding and higher quality varieties.

In order to capture the demand for safe vegetables with premium prices, Fresh Studio developed a successful marketing campaign in Hanoi supermarkets for a safe vegetable brand. The presentation ended with showing images of this exciting campaign.

Questions from the audience after the presentation varied from “Why did you start Fresh Studio in Vietnam? There would be a big need for such a company in China as well” to “How do you communicate about the appearance of the greenhouse vegetables? If they look too good consumers might start to worry they have not been safely produced”.

For more information about the business forum at the AsiaFruitLogistica, please visit: www.asiafruitlogistica.comAlso interesting to read:

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