Sri Lanka participates in Grocery Innovation Canada 2019 for first time
Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) organized an export promotional mission to Toronto in Canada from October 20 to 23 in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Consulate in Toronto.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka partnered under the Economic Diplomacy Programme (EDP) to the organize Sri Lanka Pavilion at GIC in successful manner.
Nine Sri Lankan companies including Bio Foods Pvt Ltd, Ceylon Biscuits Limited, Food & Nature (Pvt) Ltd, Hero Nature Products (Pvt) Ltd, Kandrick Tea Beverages Lanka, Jayalanka Suppliers, Waguruwela Oil Mills (Pvt) Ltd, Samanala Natural Foods Pvt Ltd and Sayaladu Coco Products (Pvt) Ltd participated at the programme to promote Sri Lankan products, namely value added organic coconut kernel products, confectioneries, tea, herbal tea, products of sesame and dried fruits under the sectors viz Food & Beverages and Spices & Concentrates being EDB focus sectors under the National Export Strategy (NES).
The programme included one-day market orientation and Sri Lanka products display at Grocery Innovation Canada (GIC) 2019.
The GIC is one of the popular trade show and conferences focused on Canadian Grocery Industry and attracts many retailers, buyers, importers, distributors and wholesalers.
A B2B programme was arranged for Sri Lankan participants during the GIC exhibition with leading buyers such as Costco, Loblaws, Save on Foods and Longosin Canada during the GIC exhibition with the assistance of Peter Murphy, the Canadian Marketing Consultant who conducted the Awareness Seminar in July 2018 in Colombo. Sri Lankan participants got an excellent opportunity to establish contacts with importers specialized on Asian Foods.
This is Sri Lanka’s first time participation at GIC and received approx.100 potential trade inquiries. In addition the GIC was an excellent platform on meet business parties as well as gaining knowledge on product innovations.
During the market orientation programme and information session which were organized with the assistance of Peter and Sri Lanka Consulate ,the group visited traditional supermarket chains as well as ethnic storesto study the market trends as well as gained knowledge on consumer’s trends.
The promotional mission was organized as a follow-up programme for the seminar held in 2018 and the objective of this programme was to promote trade and economic co-operation between Sri Lanka and Canada.
This export promotional programme series will guide Sri Lankan exporters to develop new business linkages with Canadian business decision makers.
Sri Lanka High Commissioner in Canada Asoka Girihagama and Consul General Kaplia Jayaweera visited the Sri Lanka pavilion and invigorated the participants.
Sri Lanka’s total exports to Canada has increased continuously in the last five years valued from US$ 171 million in 2014 to US$ 210 million in 2018, approx. 25 percent of total exports to Canada is from processed foods, beverage and spices. Ethnic foods, healthy foods and plant-based foods are new trends in the food sector in Canada. Consumers expect quality products with fair price.
The EDB will organize a country promotion and B2B meetings programme in 2020 in collaboration with Sri Lanka Consulate in Toronto as a follow-up to this promotional programme.