The South African Marketing Officer responsible for Economic Affairs in France, Mr Mustapha Adams has commended 38 South African companies for putting put up a good show exhibiting and promoting South Africa’s finest products and services at the 27^th Salon International de l’alimentation (SIAL) International Food Exhibition in Paris, France. 

The companies were assisted under Export Marketing and Investment Assistance Scheme (EMIA) of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) which seeks to develop exports markets for local products and services and recruitments new foreign direct investment into South Africa.  

SIAL Paris, considered one of the world’s leading food exhibitions, specialises in food processing and is dedicated to the agri-food industry, food retail, and institutional and commercial catering.

Adams says that this year’s exhibition was the most successful that he has ever worked on and was a great for the 38 companies that participated in the exhibition.

“The mission was a success because of the many trade leads our companies were able to secure and from the positive feedback we solicited from the many patrons that visited our exhibition stand to test our product offerings. What stood out the most from their comments was the good impression on the quality of our products and the fact that our goods were certified for entry into Europe and other markets, which will be positive to the ease of movement of our products when the deals eventually begin to take place,” said Adams.  

In addition, Adams reported that even emerging exporter companies that were coming to SIAL Paris for the very first time had an equally successful showing.

“For example, Phuti Food Manufacturing, which manufactures spices in Limpopo was able to secure leads from India, China and the Middle East. The businessman has already sent through samples to clients for them to test. Herbivore Earthfoods which manufactures organic foodstuffs has secured an order to Singapore. And lastly, Yamama Gemmer which produces ginger beer in ready to drink and concentrated form has had two buyers who had shown interest in sourcing their product. The potential client has also spoken about capacity and when people start that discussion, it means they are interested in the product and would like to see volumes being exported into the European Union. So those are very positive signs,” he said.