AUCKLAND, 20 JUNE 2018 (PACIFIC PERISCOPE)—Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) New Zealand will host four Pacific food and beverage companies from Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa and Tahiti in French Polynesia at its stand at the Fine Food New Zealand Show 24-26 June in Auckland.
Fine Food New Zealand is a premier biennial trade-only show for the foodservice, hospitality and retail industries. Fine Food shows are held in several countries around the world. PTI NZ also hosted Pacific F&B companies at the previous show in 2016.
The four companies at the PTI NZ stand this year are Papua New Guinea’s Namalu Coffee, Samoa’s Savai’i Popo, Tahiti’s Noni Energy and Tonga’s Tupuanga Coffee. The companies are profiled separately in this edition of Pacific Periscope.
The four companies’ participation in the once-in-two-years show is part of PTI NZ’s Path to Market program, a multi-stage export capability building initiative for Pacific Island exporters and export-ready companies to export into the New Zealand market.
The program combines PTI NZ’s range of export facilitation services and expertise with the content of the workshops specifically targeted at existing and new exporters giving further insights and overviews of getting products especially into the New Zealand market.
Workshop sessions include supply chain management; knowing the Kiwi customer and their buying habits; costing and pricing strategies; packaging design and mandatory information; brand positioning; projecting the unique selling proposition; developing and telling the company’s story and the ground realities of the New Zealand wholesale and retail market as also compliance requirements.
PTI NZ works with the main Economic Development Agency (EDA) of each country to host the in-country workshops, on the completion of which, export-ready participants are invited to exhibit their products at suitable trade shows in New Zealand.
The various stages in the program are: Home based capability building – a one-day workshop in the host country; Building a strong strategic link to local economic development partner; Potential to be invited to be part of a trade mission to New Zealand (such as the Pasifika Festival in Auckland in March and/or other industry-specific trade shows); Identifying capability gaps and learnings from the mission; Introduction to New Zealand buyers and follow up and quantification of deals.
Earlier this year, PTI NZ hosted nearly 40 alumni companies of the Path to Market program from eleven countries across the Pacific Islands region at the Pasifika Festival in Auckland at a specially designated area called the Pasifika Business Market.
Participants at the Fine Food New Zealand show are Path to Market alumni.
The Path to Market workshop program has grown in popularity over the past three years. More than 700 participants have been through the program during that time. In 2017 alone, workshops were held in 10 Pacific Island countries in 16 cities or centres.
PTI NZ Trade & Investment Commissioner Michael Greenslade says, “In our Benchmarking Audit in 2017 the International Trade Centre opined Path to Market as World Best Practice for Programs of its type.”
PTI NZ welcomes the four participating companies to the Fine Food New Zealand show and looks forward to welcoming visitors to the PTI NZ stand to meet with these companies.
