Page 14 - Food & Drink Business August 2018
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FOOD EXPORT
14 | Food&Drink business | August 2018 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au
Notes from the field
Export Connect’s Najib Lawand reveals what’s top of mind for Asia’s food and beverage buyers.
WHAT are the market trends, product opportunities, and buyers’ wish lists for Australian products? Export Connect founder and director Najib Lawand recently headed to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Singapore to answer these questions.
He spoke with buyers, retailers, distributors and e-commerce platform providers, and here are the common themes that emerged.
1 REGULATORY CHANGES
Regulatory changes are happening all across these
markets – new labelling laws in Hong Kong, product registration changes in Malaysia, Halal requirements in Indonesia (rumoured to be mandatory across all categories in 2019), and the restriction of promotional activity on infant formulas in Singapore, to name just a few. Anyone looking to enter these markets will need to be aware of the relevant market access rules, and those currently active in the market must be proactive in catering to these changes.
