Pran gets good response at food fair in Germany

Pran, a food processor in Bangla-desh, booked export orders worth around $600,000 at this year's Anuga fair in Germany.

The company received spot orders from the existing and new customers, said Kamruzzaman Kamal, director for marketing at Pran-RFL Group.

He said the export orders were booked at the five-day fair from customers mainly from the US, Congo, Guyana, Portugal, Haiti and the UK.

Anuga, the largest fair for the global food industry, kicked off on October 10 at Cologne. Around 6,800 food and beverage processors and producers from 100 countries took part in the show.

The fair is organised to see the progress the industry made, and spot new trends and emerging needs of the consumers around the world.

Pran displayed different kinds of products at the fair, including frozen foods, fruit drinks, noodles, biscuits, snack mix, chips, candy, sauce and jelly.

Kamal said a huge demand for juices, drinks, confectionery and bakery products were seen in the fair.

He said Anuga has played a significant role for the company's agro-processing food as it provides a valuable platform to showcase its products at the international level.

“We got a positive response from visitors. The response from visitors was beyond our expectation.”

Pran representatives had one-to-one conversation with 200 visitors from different countries, including Mongolia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Jamaica, Haiti, Seychelles, Mauritius, Morocco, the US and Portugal.

“Old customers asked about our new products. We shared our business plans with them and listened to their problems,” said Kamal.

Pran started exporting in 1997, with canned pineapple to France. Now it exports its products to 118 countries, said Mizanur Rahman, chief of export of the company.

The company, which exported products worth $144 million last fiscal year, produces more than 500 food items under 10 different categories and employs 75,000 people.