According to industry experts, last year, the Philippines’s purchases of Belgian fries quadrupled to 30,000 tons, compared to some 9,000 tons imported in 2010.
Original Belgian Fries (OBF), an organization of Belgian frozen potato products suppliers, said Southeast Asian countries have become Belgium’s largest market for potatoes in the past decades.
“The Asean region became a large target market for Belgian potatoes over the last decade, with Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines proving to be growing markets for potato products from Belgium,” the group said in a statement on Wednesday.
OBF also said fries and potato-related products shipments to the Philippines in the first half of the year has already reached 18,703 MT. The Philippines accounted for 37.4 percent of the 50,000 tons of fries and potato-related products shipped to Southeast Asian countries.
The export group said the five largest Belgian suppliers are Agristo, Bart’s Potato Co., Clarebout Potatoes, Ecofrost and Mydibel. These family-owned businesses ship potato products all over the world, it added. To promote Belgian fries in the region, OBF said it supported the five-day Back to Basic Challenge at Thaifex 2019 in Thailand. Every participant had to prepare two toppings and two dips to combine with tasty, Belgian-style fries.
Businessmirror.com.ph also reported that Belgian suppliers will also showcase their potatoes straight from the heart of Europe at the SIAL Interfood 2019 in Jakarta, Indonesia, from November 13 to 16.
