Sri Lankan SME delegation finds foreign buyers at food fair in India
A delegation of Sri Lankan small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has reportedly found buyers from around the world after attending a food fair in India.
“We found importers from India, USA and South Africa for exporting of spices, organic pepper, cinnamon and coconut oil. At present we are negotiating with these buyers,” Sunil Atapattu, Managing Director, Rainbow Marketing (Pvt) Ltd has been quoted as saying.
The local media has reported that Indusfood-Tech 2020 is an annual international trade fair organised by the Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) and was held from January 8th to 10th at the India Exposition Mart, Greater Noida this year. The fair had seen the participation of over 1,200 Indian business partners and 600 buyers.
Sectors covered at the trade fair include food and beverage processing, drink technology, food packaging and labelling, automation and controls and supply chain solutions.
The fair had reportedly attracted delegates from countries such as Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Netherlands, Russia and USA.
Chandana Deepal, Director, Chutiduwa Group of Companies has been quoted as saying in the local media that his participation had helped to learn the importance of value addition to products export from Sri Lanka considering the quantum of value addition that has helped India to expand their market segments for Indian spices and confectionary.
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) had facilitated the participation of Sri Lankan SMEs.
The main objective of participating at the event was to identify potential buyers to promote products from Sri Lanka, sourcing machinery, equipment and raw materials required for the food industry and the SMEs were facilitated to observe market requirements, strengths of competitors, labelling requirements and pricing.
“All the delegates received positive responses at the trade fair, and we will consider our participation at the Indusfood-Tech 2021 as well. Our participation made several inroads to enter into Indian market due to large number of positive responses received,” Lilakshini de Mel, Senior Assistant Secretary General of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has been quoted as saying.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s SME sector is on a continuous growth path with the government of Sri Lanka giving prominence to the development of the country’s SME sector. Sri Lanka’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean, the ease of doing business environment in the country and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country have made it an attractive business destination in the South Asian region. Foreign businesses could therefore explore opportunities in Sri Lanka’s SME sector.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20200124/Z_2 |