As part of the continuous effort to promote Malaysian products globally, Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) through its overseas office in London has successfully launched the “Taste of Malaysia” promotion programme in Dublin, Ireland. The programme was held in collaboration with Asia Market, the largest Asian food suppliers in Ireland and supported by the Embassy of Malaysia in Dublin, Ireland.
The promotion, which runs from May 1 to May 31 aims to increase market awareness about Malaysian food and beverages (F&B) as well as to strengthen Malaysia’s brand presence in the local F&B segment. The one-month promotion programme is conducted in hybrid format, consisting of both online and in store promotion at both Asia Market stores in Drury Street and Ballymount in Dublin. This strategic partnership provides a cost-effective marketing approach for Malaysian exporters to seize new business opportunities and generate higher export sales contributed by new sales leads resulting from extensive promotion activities.
The promotion features products ranging from paste and sauces, snacks, biscuits, coffee mix, spices, and instant noodles to ready to eat meals from more than 20 Malaysian food and beverages brands including Dollee, Baba’s, Adabi, Brahim’s, MyKuali, A1 and many more.
To enhance the effectiveness of the programme, MATRADE has also engaged with Malaysian celebrity chef & TV regular who is based in Ireland, Chef Sham Hanifa and online influencer DJ & Cook Marcus O’Laoire, for live cooking demonstrations, using Malaysian ingredients/products available at the supermarket. This way, Irish consumers had the chance to experience Malaysian cuisine directly.
According to the Trade Commissioner of MATRADE London, Megat Iskandar Ahmad Dassilah, “The event has managed to attract strong interest from the Irish consumers towards Malaysian foods. It is timely for us to organise this promotion as the situation in Ireland now is back to pre-pandemic level as COVID restrictions are no longer applicable. The cooking demonstrations have managed to create hyped and attracted traffic flow to the stores to purchase Malaysian F&B products. Combined with online promotion, we believe more sales could be generated; this will create more opportunities for other Malaysian food products to enter the Irish market”.
He also added “Malaysian food producers need to also focus on good code of conduct practices, paying attention to environmentally friendly elements as consumers behaviours are driven by these priorities. People, not only in Ireland but in Europe at large have adopted more sustainable lifestyle choices during the pandemic”.
