Cebu seafood exporters join food expo in Manila

Five premier seafood exporters in Cebu are joining the IFEX (International Food Exhibition) Philippines 2018 to expand their global market reach.

Phil-Union Frozen Foods, Inc. , HJR International Corporation, Akai Foods, Inc., Central Seafoods, Inc., and Asian Wave Seafood Corporation will be displaying their products at the IFEX Philippines 2018 on May 25 to 27 at the World Trade Center Metro Manila and the Philippine Trade Training Center.

Based in Lapu-Lapu City, Phil-Union Frozen Foods, Inc. (PUFFI) is one of the country’s leading exporters of crab meat and other marine products like tuna, shrimp, giant squid, and octopus. They supply pasteurized crab meat for United States-based Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods brand, which ranks among the top in the global market. Aside from the US, they currently export to Japan, Hongkong, Singapore and South Korea.

Rated as a large-scale business, the company has a production capacity of 25 to 40 tons per day in their plants located at Mandaue City and Jubay, processing raw seafood from nearly a hundred of picking stations nationwide.

Established in 1996 through efforts of Japanese and Philippine entrepreneurs, HJR International has become one of the biggest exporters of quality seafood products in the country built on the values of quality assurance, timeliness and corporate excellence.

They currently focus their operations on shrimps, producing 10 tons of shrimp meat per day, promptly processed and packed within 24 hours after harvest in their aquafarms located in three provinces: Bulacan, Agusan del Norte (Butuan City) and Cebu.

Akai Foods Inc. started its seafood business in 1986. The company has hundreds of fishermen under its operation in Cebu, and two other provinces: Surigao del Norte and Masbate. It supplies fresh and frozen squid, giant squid, octopus, cuttlefish, and other fish species. They also manufacture valueadded products such as squid balls, fish tempura, shrimp ball, fish ball, and squid roll.The company currently exports to major Asian markets, such as Japan, Korea, Hongkong, and USA.

Central Seafoods, Inc. is a premier Philippine processor and exporter of fresh frozen marine products and pasteurized canned crab meat.

The company operates several raw materials buying stations and satellite picking plants in the Visayas and Mindanao. With the main plant and headquarters situated in the central part of the Philippines, CSI has expanded their raw materials sourcing up north to the southern part of Luzon, the Bicol Region, increasing their combined production capacity to 3,000 metric tons per year.

Currently, CSI is exporting mainly to the United States although exports to Japan, Korea and Hong Kong are steadily gaining traction due to increase in demand. CSI is also aiming to penetrate the European Union (EU) and the Middle East markets.

Established in 1986, Asian

Wave Seafood Corporation has become a major seafood player in the country that supplies a wide variety of high-quality seafood products found in the Philippines, such as milkfish, parrot fish, tuna, salmon, prawns and shrimps, lobsters, crab, octopus, cuttlefish, abalone, scallops, and other marine products.

The company operates using a state-of-the-art processing facility and freezing technology in Mandaue City that adheres to the standards of the EU, GMP, 5S System, and the HACCP system.

The 12th edition of IFEX Philippines is organized by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the export promotion arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in partnership with the Department of