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Food Proteins Asia Meet in Bangkok Weighs Asia’s Rising Protein Intake & Its Prospects

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

CMT’s inaugural Food Proteins Asia, in Bangkok on 9-10 November highlights the opportunities presented as Asia develops a huge appetite for protein fortified food and drinks coupled with global shift towards plant based proteins such as soy, peas and pulses.

Food Proteins Asia 2017 seeks to unveil opportunities in Asia Pacific’s protein ingredient market, expected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 9.1% over the next few years. Day 1 begins with Frost & Sullivan sharing the ‘Global Food Protein Trends & Growth Opportunities in Asia’ – highlighting alternative proteins, sustainable food protein sources, technologies and the changing economics, food safety and health and wellness concerns.

Plant-based proteins will be a primary focus as DuPont Nutrition & Health presents topic on ‘Capturing the Protein Opportunity with Soy Protein: Market Fit, Applications and Advantages’, and Axiom Foods addresses ‘The Tipping Point for Plant’ – focusing on how people are moving away from meat in the USA.

Brand owner – Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition joins the summit with its perspective on the evolving protein diets in infant nutrition. As dairy remains a key protein source, Fonterra presents a session on – ‘Why Dairy? The benefits of dairy protein’. It is followed by ‘The irreplaceable value of whey protein in human nutrition’ by Pacific Dairy Ingredients.

Insect based protein – considered the next big thing – is slated to have two sessions – ‘Edible insects market’ featuring processing technologies and market opportunities for consumer packaged goods by Bugsolutely and Abundance Food Co. on ‘Fortifying energy bars with cricket protein’.

Organised by Centre for Management Technology (CMT), other key presentations are:

  • Power of pulses – Meijer Consult
  • Understanding the vital gluten market going forward – Commoditia
  • MycoProtein – Healthy new proteins with low environmental impact new market applications – Quorn Foods Monde Nissin
  • Commercializing Lentein in Asia & Formulating into food products – Parabel (formerly PetroAlgae)
  • Harnessing the Goodness of Pea Proteins and its Suitability in Asia – Roquette Management
  • Recent technological, commercial & regulatory development on new food protein ingredients in Asia – Keller & Heckman

Larsson will join the summit as exhibitor.

For more information visit Food Proteins Asia 2017 or call Ms. Huiyan Fu at +65 6346 9113.

11street enhances online grocery shopping experience

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Mart 11 offers a 48-hour delivery with RM11 cashback for late service and it caters over thousands of products for consumer selection

KUALA LUMPUR, 25 September 2017 – Across the ASEAN region, the outlook for grocery shopping is looking bright as it is expected to become the world’s largest market worth almost US$180 billion by 2020. [1] To cater the rising demand for household and grocery items online, 11street launched Mart 11 today, its first campaign with a promise of 48-hour delivery within the Klang Valley as one of its new commitments towards enhancing the grocery shopping experience in Malaysia.

Chuljin Yoon, Chief Operating Officer of 11street said, “The digitalisation of grocery shopping is a crucial step in the e-commerce industry. The Mart 11 concept is a way to enhance shopping experience with specifically household and grocery items, making it much more convenient to shop from the comfort of your home. It features 10 renowned brands every month showcasing over 1000 daily food and beverage, baby essentials, and daily essentials.”

Tracing back to 11street’s Year End Outlook Survey last year, it is discovered that interest to purchase household and grocery items online will increase from 7.8% to 40.4% in 2017 – an estimated of 5 times increment from 2016. This also puts household and groceries items as one of the “Top 3 Categories Most People Are Likely to Explore in 2017”.

In relations, the sales figure of 11street Malaysia within the period of January to August 2017 reported a surge in the grocery sale category by 158%, in comparison to 2016 of the same period. The top 5 most purchased grocery products identified are chocolate malt powder, milk powder, diapers, soft drinks, and grains.

11street enhanced logistic support to provide greater value

The competition among e-retailers today goes beyond just pricing alone as the focus is also on convenience and fast delivery. The Mart 11 concept allows consumers to enjoy a 48-hour delivery service within the Klang Valley and RM 11 cashback for late service.

“As one of the leading e-commerce platform, it is our goal to fine tune customer experience by offering them the convenience of purchasing goods anywhere at any given time. The cashback serves as a seal of confidence in our logistic support to deliver the package within 48 hours,” added Yoon.

In addition to the promotions in Mart 11, customers can also enjoy additional 11% store cart coupon on top of the discounted products.

Mart 11 paving way for new market expansion

Malaysian online shopping behaviour has changed drastically over the year, from purchasing lifestyle, electronic and beauty products to now including fast moving consumer goods and groceries. The trend in fresh produce delivery has also become prevalent through the rise of many grocery delivery start-ups.

Yoon added, “Going beyond the ordinary, 11street is one of the first online marketplaces in Malaysia that can deliver frozen goods to your doorstep with just a click away. To do so, we have forged strong partnerships with brands such as Wall’s and Nestle to deliver ice-cream to selected areas or states in Malaysia.

“We foresee potential in the Malaysian market to advance forward in the grocery shopping revolution. With the establishment of Mart 11, we are confident that 11street will be the anchor for the online grocery shopping market in Malaysia, and to continue serving consumers a quality product variety with reliable logistics service at competitive rates,” concluded Yoon.

For more information on Mart 11 and its monthly promotions, please visit http://www.11street.my/benefit/promotionDetail.do?planDisplayNumber=592859.

About 11street (www.11street.my)

11street is a trustworthy and convenient online marketplace that offers a great variety of products at competitive prices. It strives to revolutionise today’s consumers’ online shopping experience by making it more personalised and engaging. 11street has a diverse selection of product categories which are tagged on Fashion, Electronics, Groceries, Health & Beauty, Kids & Baby, Leisure & Sports, Home & Living, and Books & Services including deal offerings like E-vouchers. 11street is also an optimised marketplace where its merchandising ecosystem, education and training programs can fully support sellers regardless of the size of their businesses. Established in Korea since 2008, 11street is now one of the top global e-commerce marketplace providers with 400,000 sellers serving over 30 million consumers worldwide. 11street also has a presence in Turkey and Thailand, known as n11 and 11street respectively. For more information, please visit http://www.11street.my.

[1] https://foodindustry.asia/selling-online-in-asia-four-emerging-online-grocery-models

Tofusan eyes ASEAN expansion via DKSH partnership

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Tofusan eyes ASEAN expansion

Tofusan Co., Ltd., Thailand’s No.1 organic soymilk producer, said it has plans to export its soymilk into other Southeast Asian countries in 2018 through the DKSH network. This comes on the sideline of the official announcement of the distribution partnership between Tofusan (àč‚àž—àžŸàžžàž‹àž±àž‡) and DKSH. Tofusan is famous for its soymilk with tofu sheet.

Partnership with DKSH

DKSH was appointed by Tofusan to handle marketing, sales, distribution and logistics services in Thailand. This includes the expansion of Tofusan products in modern trade, convenience stores, hotels, schools, restaurants, community retailers and food service channels.

Opening new factory in Samut Sakhon

Tofusan aims to open a new factory in Samut Sakhon, a city close to the Bangkok Metropolitan Area, reported Bangkok Post. The capacity of the new factory is 300,000 bottles of soymilk per day. It will add to the existing daily production capacity of 100,000 bottles a day.

UHT soy milk has the biggest segment

According to Tofusan, UHT soy milk was the biggest segment in the soy milk market in Thailand in 2014 with 84.31%, followed by sterilisation 13% and pasteurisation at 2.94%. Lactasoy is the market leader in UHT soy milk, while Tofusan is active in the pasteurised and sterilised soy milk segments.

The image below was taken from iizziistudio.com

Market leader

Tofusan debuted in the market in 2011 and by the end of July 2015, it had captured 54% of the market in the bottled soy milk segment. Ohayo and Shinpo was respectively second each with a 20% share and Fong Fong with the remaining 6%.

New product with 5 colours

The new Tofusan soy milk has beans of 5 colours including white bean, green bean, red bean and soy bean in konjac. The retail price of the 225ml drink is THB 15 and is only available at 7-Eleven. The calcium in the drink comes from white sesame.

What Mini Me thinks

UHT soymilk such as Lactasoy and Green Spot (Vitamilk) has found a ready market in Southeast Asia. Huge growth is seen in the Philippines for Vitamilk. The demand for pasteurised and sterilised premium soymilk is slowly picking up as consumers upgrade to better soymilk and this is where Tofusan can play a role.

Food Protein Asia 2017

To know more about Asia’s soaring demand for protein enriched foods and learn from Monde Nissin, Parabel, Meijer Consult, Axiom Foods, Fonterra Brands, Danone Nutricia and many more at Food Proteins Asia 2017 on 9-10 Nov Bangkok, Thailand.

Yourganic plant-based protein drink without the whey

By
Tan Heng Hong
-
Image from Yourganic

Yourganic, the Indonesian owned almond milk producer that is 100% produced with raw Californian almonds, has recently unveiled it latest plant-based protein drink No-Whey To Go in September 2017.

The beverage is a collaboration with “The Father” of Indonesian bodybuilding – Mr Ade Rai who famously featured in Sido Muncul’s Kuku Bima powdered energy drink.

The plant-based protein drink contains almond milk, spirulina and banana to help with muscle building and fat burning. Each bottle contains 20g of protein. The price is IDR 45,000 per bottle and can be purchased on Yourganic online store or at Crossfit, Rai Fitness and Kem Chicks.

The drink is free from gluten, sugar, GMO, artificial sweetener and animal protein (whey).

*Images from Yourganic

New Mitsui, ABC dairy farm, processing facility launched

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

A new dairy player will enter the Indonesian dairy market following the official opening of a dairy farm in Garut in West Java on 20 September 2017. An initial USD 50 million has been invested into the dairy farm operated by Raffles Pacific Harvest, of which 30% is invested by the Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co and the rest by local food producer ABC Group.

The farm has an initial 900 dairy cows, of which 400 are productive cows with the capacity to produce 12 tons per day. The plan is to increase the herd size to 4,000 in the coming years.

The raw milk will be supplied to PT ABC Kogen Dairy, which runs a milk processing plant in Cicalengka, Kabupaten Bandung. The plant has the processing capacity of 160 tons a day. The distance between Garut and Cicalengka is around 40km. Mitsui & Co also has a 30% stake in ABC Kogen Dairy.

According to Asia Nikkei Review, ABC Kogen Dairy will start selling milk and processed dairy products within the year.

What Mini Me thinks

As Indonesia is a net importer of dairy with 70% of its milk requirement coming from abroad, having a local source not only helps to reduce the dependency but also provides consumers with fresh milk straight from the farm. The entry of ABC into the milk market will also improve competition.

 

New So Tango with Belgian chocolate, against fake news

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Tango, the leading wafer brand from Indonesia’s OT Group, officially unveiled So Tango in September 2017. This new wafer with Belgian chocolate adds to the existing lineup comprising Tango Waffle, Tango Fusion, Tango Crunchcake and Tango Kraffel. Tango was first introduced in the country in 1995 and is now contributing 20-30% towards OT Group’s revenue. According to the business daily Kontan citing Harianus I Zebua, Head of Corporate and Marketing Communications OT Group, Tango is number one in the wafer segment in Indonesia, .

Focusing on export

Charles Klamodarso, Managing Director Wafer Division OT Group, said the company has been focusing on exporting Tango in the past three years. He said the export market is “growing significantly” with focus on China and Vietnam. The company has exported Tango Waffle, Tango Fusion, Tango Crunchcake and Tango Kraffel. For the domestic market, Charles said the Tango brand is expected to grow by 10-15% in 2017.

OT booth at SIAL China 2017. Photographed by the author

Against fake news

As part of the launch of So Tango, OT Group has launched a public education campaign to support the government’s drive to stem out fake news. The #EnaknyaGakHoax or literally meaning “Tasty without Hoax” will reach out to at least 100,000 students across the country to educate students how to differentiate between real and fake news.

Turn healthy choices into exciting rewards with Healthy 365 app

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

The Singapore’s Health Promotion Board is working hard to ensure Singaporeans choose the healthier choice. To promote healthy eating, the health board has launched a three-month-long Eat, Drink, Shop Healthy Challenge (EDSH Challenge), which commenced on 1 August 2017 and will end on 31 October 2017.

HCS gaining share

According to the Minister of State for Health, Mr Chee Hong Tat, the market share of products with the Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS) has risen to 18% in 2016 from 15% in 2012. He mentioned this at the Ministry of Health (MOH) Committee of Supply Debate 2017.

According to Chee, “there are over 2,500 HCS products available across 70 food categories, compared to just 300 products when HCS started in 2001. The sales of HCS products has been growing at 9 per cent annually, compared to 2 to 3 percent for other food products.”

Healthy 365 app

This year, the EDSH Challenge will be implemented via the Healthy 365 app, which has a feature allowing consumers to earn Healthpoints from healthy purchases. The points can be redeemed for supermarket and F&B vouchers as well as quality for frequent scanners’ lucky draws. Points can be earned from product, dish and drink.

Earn points by opting for healthier choices

Qualifying Product means any item featuring the HCS logo bought in participating supermarkets, petrol marts and convenience stores including 7-Eleven, Cold Storage and NTUC FairPrice.

Qualifying Drink includes beverages sold in participating coffeeshops, food courts, cafes, drink kiosks, or hawker centre stalls.

Participating outlets for drinks include Nanyang Old Coffee Café, Ya Kun, Toastbox and Sharetea.

For a Qualifying Dish, “it refers to any dish sold in participating restaurants, food courts, hawker centre stalls, food kiosks and quick service restaurants that is labelled with any of the HPB’s Healthier Choice identifiers shown below. Qualifying Dish may vary or differ with each participating outlet.”

Partners with qualifying dish include McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Sakae Sushi, Subway and NTUC Foodfare. The complete list can be found here.

https://www.facebook.com/hpbsg/videos/vb.135254099825195/1816365548380700/?type=2&theater

What Mini Me thinks

Scanning grocery receipts on apps is becoming mainstream. By combining receipt scanning, HPB hopes to encourage more consumers to pick HCS products since some consumers are already scanning their receipts for rewards on other grocery apps.

The EDSH Challenge initiative can also be replicated in neighboring Malaysia where the government has recently introduced their very own Healthier Choice Logo in 2017. However, public knowledge about the Healthier Choice Logo is still minimal.

Poor response for sustainable palm oil

By
Tan Heng Hong
-
Image from newbritainoils.com

47 companies contacted

During the first half of 2017, WWF contacted 47 companies headquartered in Singapore and Malaysia for the Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard study. The respondents were asked about their core actions and commitments in sourcing for sustainable palm oil. The report can be downloaded here.

Only 30% of the companies responded to the study and only 3 firms out of 47 have a public commitment to use sustainable palm oil.

Here are the results

Malaysia’s Mamee Double-Decker (M) Sdn Bhd and Munchy Foods Industry Sdn Bhd are the only two Malaysian companies that disclosed they are using 1-25% of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO), as defined by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Both are members of RSPO and only Mamee has a public disclosure on CSPO use. 

In Singapore, the top score goes to Denis Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (Ayam Brand) with a commitment to 100% CSPO use by 2018. At the moment, its CSPO usage is 50-75%. The company, the maker of canned food, started using CSPO in 2010.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore said its CSPO usage is 75-100%. The entity is a self-funded organisation based in Singapore which manages the majority of zoos in the country.

Zero CSPO usage

The following Malaysian companies said they are not using certified sustainable palm oil (RSPO):

  • Beryl’s Chocolate & Confectionery Sdn Bhd – chocolate
  • Brahim’s Holdings Berhad – in-flight catering
  • Lay Hong Bhd (Nutriplus) – poultry and egg
  • Perfect Foods Manufacturing (M) Sdn Bhd – biscuit

Among the non-respondents from Malaysian and most likely to be using 0% RSPO are:

  • Adabi Consumer Industries Sdn Bhd – sauces
  • Aik Cheong Coffee Roaster Sdn Bhd – coffee
  • Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn Bhd – bakery
  • The Italian Baker Sdn Bhd – bakery
  • White CafĂ© Sdn Bhd – maker of OldTown white coffee
  • Chek Hup Sdn Bhd – coffee
  • Network Foods (M) Sdn Bhd – chocolate
  • Biz Alliance International (M) Sdn Bhd – instant noodle

Consumers not expect to care about sustainable palm oil

Most Malaysian companies expect their consumers not to care whether they source CSPO or not because the awareness about CSPO in Malaysia is minimal. As a palm oil producer, consumers are inculcated on the benefits of palm oil and there is no campaign and little political will to educate consumers about sustainability.

In Singapore, it is the same situation albeit a slightly higher awareness about sustainability.

What Mini Me thinks

Unless the companies are proactively exporting their products overseas such as Mamee, which has a big presence in Australia and in other Western countries where RSPO is a big issue, there is little or no incentive to embrace RSPO.

From mameesnacks.com (The Mamee site in Australia)

Malaysian and Singapore consumers have yet to reach a stage where sustainable palm oil is important even though they are suffering from the annual haze emitting from Indonesia. The key concern for them is addressing the practice of burning rather than punishing manufacturers for not using RSPO.

New look for Bintang Radler 0.0%, first half Bintang soft drink sales down

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

PT Multi Bintang Indonesia Tbk reported a 11.4% year-on-year sales decline in soft drink sales for the first half of 2017. This comes after a 105% year-on-year jump in soft drink revenue in the first half of 2016 and a 50% increase for the entire year in 2016.

No reason was given by the company on the decline of its soft drinks revenue, which has been a star performer in the past following the ban on alcohol sale in minimarket and convenience stores in 2015.

PT Tirta Prima Indonesia

In May 2017, Multi Bintang made an important statement announcing the creation of a joint venture PT Tirta Prima Indonesia with Heineken Asia Pacific Pte Ltd on 26 May 2017.

The role of the new entity is to engage in the business of the soft drink industry that has been previously done by Multi Bintang.

The growing shift towards halal may put a damp on the soft drink business since it is currently associated with the beer maker. By housing the non-alcoholic business under the new entity, it is hoped that the move will increase the unit’s performance by keeping it separate from the alcoholic business, said Binaartha Parama Sekuritas analyst Nafan Aji cited by the business daily Kontan.

There is also the possibility that Multi Bintang will no longer report the performance of its soft drink business going forward.

New look for Bintang Radler 0.0%

The Bintang Radler 0.0%, launched in 2016, has been given a new look in 2017. Below is how the old Bintang Radler 0.0% looks like. The new design (see above) features a bright yellow color scheme, leaving only a smaller patch of silver to highlight the iconic red Bintang (star).

Below is the old Bintang Radler 0.0% packaging.

 

The TVC for the Bintang Radler 0.0% in the new packaging highlights the camaraderie of a group of young restaurant owners chilling out after a day’s work. It also emphasises the message Bintang Radler 0.0% goes well with food.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBi1bwtho08

New Heineken Light

In line with the growing trend towards mid-strength beer worldwide, the company officially unveiled Heineken Light in Jakarta in August 2017. Francis Aswin, Marketing Director of PT Multi Bintang Indonesia Niaga, described Heineken Light as “perfect for consumers who want low-alcohol, low-calorie beer with a refreshing taste.” Heineken Light has a 3.3% ABV and is low in calories (99 calories). The beer is available in 330ml bottle sizes and 320ml cans.

What Mini Me thinks

The launch of Heineken Light is part of a move by Multi Bintang to release lighter alcoholic drinks to increase its consumer base. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the company introduced Strongbow cider, which is imported from Singapore.

The separation of the soft drink business could be a good move to disassociate the soft drink business from the alcoholic business, thus providing greater assurance to Muslim consumers.

Premium Astaxanthin–infused egg with super anti-oxidant benefits

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

A premium egg infused with the super anti-oxidant Astaxanthin caught my eyes at the recent Selangor Expo at Setia City Exhibition Centre. According to the company, the eggs are now available at Jaya Grocer and Village Grocer in Malaysia’s Klang Valley. The Premia Astaxanthin eggs were first launched in September 2016.

Algaetech International Sdn Bhd, a local biotechnology company, is the first Astaxanthin producer in Southeast Asia.

Benefits of Astaxanthin

Astaxanthin is derived from Haematococcus pluvialis, a microalgea which produces astaxanthin. Astaxanthin is beneficial to the eye, cardiovascular, central nervous system, immune system and fertility.

The hens are fed with the freeze-dried Haematococcus pluvialis powder to produce egg yolks that have a deep coloration thanks to the presence of astaxanthin.

Difference between Premia egg and normal egg

Compared with a normal egg, the Premia egg has omega 9, DHA and astaxanthin. It has slightly higher protein versus a normal egg, lower in cholesterol but higher in carbohydrate. However, the Premia egg is significantly lower in omega 6.

The eggs are produced and packed by Selasih Aman Sdn Bhd located in Kerling in the state of Selangor.

A tray containing of Premia Astaxanthin eggs is priced at RM 10 at roadshow and expo. Online, it is selling at RM 15 on the company’s official portal.

Above is the photo of the the Premia Astaxanthin egg booth at Avenue K taken by the author in September 2017.

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