Singapore's food products land on China's shelves

Supermarkets in Guangdong, Beijing and Shanghai were supplied with products from 21 Tasty Singapore food manufacturers.

More than 20 brands of Singapore F&B products are currently on the shelves of 15 Jusco supermarkets in Guangdong province for a promotional campaign. This marks the start of the Singapore Food Promotion campaign in China organised by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, a campaign to introduce Singapore’s authentic Asian cuisine and the Tasty Singapore brand to both Chinese consumers and businesses. The campaign comprises consumer roadshows, supermarket promotions and restaurant promotions. The objective is to raise awareness and mindshare about Singapore’s F&B products, which offer not only taste, but possess the Tasty Singapore attributes of safety, quality, innovation and diversity. The Guangdong leg has been officially launched on 24 July 2010 in Guangzhou. Following Guangdong, the campaign will move on to Beijing and Shanghai, according to an IE Singapore report.

Mr Yew Sung Pei, Assistant Chief Executive Officer of IE Singapore, said, “As the Chinese consumer attains higher standard of living, they will also demand additional and quality choices to enhance their lifestyles. We want to introduce Singapore’s unique and authentic Asian food offerings, which stem from our rich multi-cultural heritage. These dishes can be easily prepared at home with the pastes and mixes developed by Singapore food manufacturers, which have attained high safety and quality standards. This campaign is also an important avenue where we help Singapore companies expand to China by linking them up directly with retailers like Jusco, Carrefour, BHG and E-Mart. Our aim is to help the Singapore companies get their products onto the supermarket shelves permanently.”

This is the first time that IE Singapore is officially introducing the Tasty Singapore brand into China’s retail outlets directly and bringing in a collective number of Singapore F&B products onto the shelves of well established supermarkets such as Jusco, BHG, Carrefour and E-Mart in China for a promotional campaign. This has come to fruition with strong support from SingFood Alliance, a food consortium that offers distribution and marketing services. 21 Singapore companies are participating in the supermarket promotions and consumer roadshows.

Through the Singapore Food Promotion campaign, Chinese consumers and businesses can get to know about Singapore’s F&B products such as instant beverages, packet snacks, food mixes / pastes etc, and try cooking authentic Asian dishes such as chilli crab, laksa, chicken rice, satay and chicken rice at home. The restaurant promotion will see selected Singapore dishes being featured in participating restaurants’ menus, which helps to further create awareness of Singapore’s food to consumers.

The campaign has kick-started in Guangdong province, and will be followed by Beijing and Shanghai.
i) Guangdong province: Supermarket promotion from 19 July – 1 August in 15 Jusco supermarkets across the seven cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Dongguan and Huizhou; Consumer roadshow from 24 – 25 July at Popark Shopping Mall, Guangzhou, with official launch for Guangdong leg held on 24 July; Restaurant promotion from early August – end August in Garden Hotel in Guangzhou.
ii) Beijing: Supermarket promotion from 28 July – 24 August in six BHG supermarkets; Consumer roadshow from 6 – 8 August at Xizhimen Raffles City, with official launch for Beijing leg to be held on 6 August.
iii) Shanghai: Supermarket promotion tentatively from 10 – 19 September in selected Carrefour and E-Mart supermarkets.

Mr Takashi Miura, Managing Director, Guangdong Jusco Teem Stores Co Ltd, said, “Jusco places much emphasis on the quality of products that we bring into our supermarkets. We are constantly looking for new sources to offer quality and innovative F&B choices to our customers. Singapore’s food products are in line with what we are looking for and complement our current international offerings. Following this supermarket promotion tie-up with IE Singapore, we will explore the viability of long-term partnerships with Singapore’s food companies.”

As the Chinese consumer becomes increasingly cosmopolitan and affluent, the China market presents much potential for Singapore’s food manufacturers. China leads the region in terms of per capita consumer expenditure growth, expanding at an average annual rate of 7.9% from 2000 - 2009. Although some parts of China were affected by the global financial crisis, per capita consumer expenditure still increased by 7.4% year-on-year in 2009. In 2010, China's real per capita disposable income is forecast to grow at 8.8% annually, compared to 10.9% in pre-crisis 2007. This is however still relatively strong as the global economy recovers this year.

From January to June 2010, Singapore’s total food exports reached S$3.94 billion, of which China accounted for around 11% (S$447.98 million). The S$447.98 million worth of food exports to China in these six months saw an increase of around 26.6% over the same period in 2009 (S$353.81 million). Singapore food brands that are currently in China include Bee Cheng Hiang, Brand’s, Eu Yan Sang, Gold Kili, Prima Food, Super Coffeemix, Tee Yih Jia, Thiong Seik Food, Tiger Beer, Yeo Hiap Seng and more.