At Japan Food Expo, Negros organic sugar, coffee attract traders

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The organic coffee and sugar products from Negros Occidental have attracted Japanese and Korean traders at the 2012 International Food Exhibition in Japan from last month.

In her letter to Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. dated March 28, Leah Ocampo, Food Team in-charge, said the organic coffee and sugar from Negros Occidental “elicited significant interest among Japanese and Korean traders who like the story behind the product (s).”

Ocampo wrote that the products were “being eyed for private branding, to be ordered in bulk and sold under the buyer’s brand.”

The Philippine booth in the exposition had generated total sales of US$24.3 million as reported by participating companies, she added.

Grace Horii, executive assistant to the governor, and who led the Negros team in the Food Expo, said Korean traders have also signified interest in buying by bulk various kinds of organic vegetables from the province.

The foreign traders were impressed with the quality of the Negros organic products, said Horii, a former tourism attache to Japan.

Meanwhile, the Negros Organic Coffee Growers Association will hold a value chain on organic coffee from April 10 to 11 to be facilitated by the Department of Trade and Industry, according to Ramon “ChinChin” Uy Jr., president of Organik na Negros! Organic Producers and Retailers Association.

The participants will be the organic coffee producers in Negros Occidental, specifically from the towns of Cauayan, Isabela, La Castellana, Murcia and E. B. Magalona, and the cities of La Carlota, Bago and Silay, said Uy. - THE FREEMAN