Rethinking Asia's Position in Ensuring Global Food Security

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- With the real value of global food demand expected to rise by around 35 percent by 2025, and with most of it coming from Asia, the food and beverage industry's role is to ensure sufficient food is produced to meet the increasing demand. Krishna Mohan Suri, Head of Research, Development and Quality - Asia Gum & Candy, Mondelez International, who will be speaking at Fi Asia -- MEGAtrends 2013, notes that, "The longer term trend has been that growth exceeds the GDP of the region by a few hundred basis points. The underlying fundamentals that are driving this continue to exist - great demographics, rising middle class, white spaces and natural resources to drive growth. Of course, within the industry sub-segments there could be variations and occasional hiccups." Another speaker, Joanna Wong, General Manager of Brand Management and Corporate Communications of Eu Yan Sang, also adds that, "Challenges faced in this industry have always been the availability of labour. Another big is about authentic and safety food supply and rising costs of food."

Megatrends in macroeconomics, consumption behaviour, regulation and technology are critical and developing at greater pace.  

Fi Asia -- MEGAtrends 2013 conference will address the key drivers and impacts of macroeconomics, food security, regulation, sustainability, consumer insights, innovation and technology on this fast fast-changing industry. Leading manufacturers such as Nestle, Mondelez International, Unilever, Kellogg Company, Mead Johnson Nutrition and GlaxoSmithKline will be present at this event. One of the speakers, Pablo Perversi, Vice President -- Foods SEAA, Unilever, commented, "Authenticity will be a key differentiator for the foods industry in Asia. As consumers become more educated in nutrition, ingredients and content of products, they will demand more transparency from companies on what goes inside the packs. Hence, brands will have to provide this transparency and authenticity of ingredients."

For more information about Fi Asia -- MEGAtrends 2013, please visit:  http://www.fiasiamegatrends.com

About Fi Asia:

Fi Asia is a well-established show in the global Fi portfolio, having run since 1996 to service the extensive Southeast Asian food industry. Since 2010, the show has rotated between Thailand and Indonesia to access more of the region's markets and industry players. Smaller summits are also held in Vietnam and the Philippines. The ASEAN region has great potential for growth with a population of 560 million consumers with changing tastes. The region is recognised by the industry and leading market research firms as one of the major emerging markets for food ingredients.

For more information about Fi Asia, please visit - http://www.foodingredientsglobal.com/asia-thailand/home

About the Organiser

UBM is a global live media and B2B communications, marketing service and data provider. We help organisations make connections, communicate their proposition and do business effectively. We enable professional people in more than 40 countries around the world to connect and engage with each other, with the markets they serve and with the information they need to succeed. And we do this by whatever means works best -- at live events, through digital media or in publications.

Our 6,500 expert staff are deeply embedded in the many specialist communities we serve, bringing both an unusual depth of understanding and real know-how. We organise hundreds of live events each year; we provide data, marketing and information products; we offer a portfolio of market-leading online and print titles; and we support professional communicators through our targeting, distribution and monitoring services.

Our culture of innovation and collaboration brings our people together around common interests to create value, enhancing our ability to do exactly the same for UBM customers. So, whatever their business and wherever they operate, our customers do better business through us.

For more information about UBM, please visit - http://www.ubm.com

Marcus Chan
Senior Marketing Associate (ASEAN)
DID : +603-2176-8703
HP : +6012-227-7286
E-mail: Marcus.chan@ubm.com