The Malaysian frozen Musang King durian was extremely well received by local visitors from the Netherlands during the recent Malaysia Food & Fruits Experience (MFFE) held at the Westfield Mall of in The Hague, The Netherlands recently.
Organised by The Agriculture Counsellor Office (ACO), the event was officiated by the Ambassador of Malaysia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Dato’ Nadzirah Osman
MFFE 2022 was held in collaboration with Wah Nam Hong supermarket, which is also one of the earliest supermarkets with 5 outlets in the Netherlands. The program was also carried out with the support from The Embassy of Malaysia in The Hague, MATRADE, Tourism Malaysia and the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA).
The aim of the program was to introduce Malaysian culinary, food products and tropical fruits such as mangosteen, dragon fruit, frozen jackfruit and durian. Visitors were also educated with a fruit cutting demonstration and tasting session.
The promotional activities were later continued at the Malaysian Pavilion during the Embassy Festival, which was organised by The Embassy of Malaysia in The Hague on Sept 3 held at Lange Voorhout, The Hague to further introduce Malaysian tropical fruits.
Malaysian culinary such as the ‘nasi lemak’ with chicken and vegan options such as jackfruit ‘rendang’, were also served during MFFE 2022.
The program was also attended by several industry players, food bloggers and reviewers.
Through MFFE 2022 and the Embassy Festival and aside from the much-celebrated Malaysian frozen Musang King durian, tropical fruits such as Malaysian starfruit and mangosteen is already being imported by the store with high prospects of adding other tropical fruits as well.
The program also helped to promote all Malaysian food products with sales up to 50%. In addition, food products by entrepreneurs under FAMA were also well accepted with some orders already being reviewed and accepted by the store.
According to the Agriculture Counsellor Muhamed Salim Mohd Ali, it’s surprising to learn that many locals were well aware of Malaysian durians and fell in love with the fruit as soon as they tasted it. Frozen durians have milder scent and this appeals to the Europeans and is also readily available at major Asian stores such as Amazing Oriental in the Netherlands. There is also a huge potential for other Malaysian tropical fruits such as mangosteen, star fruit, frozen jackfruit and food products.
He added, however, compliance towards quality, packaging, labelling, certifications, maximum residue levels, sustainability and so on must be given top priority in order to enter the European market. He also added that Malaysia’s agriculture export to the European Union (EU) rose sharply by 33.20% from RM10.39 billion in year 2020 to RM13.84 billion in year 2021 due to trade recovery with palm oil, animal and vegetable fats, beverages and tobacco, seafood, tropical fruits and agriculture machinery and parts as major contributors.
MAFI’s Business Development and Investment Division Undersecretary Khalid Ibrahim, in a statement on the event, said more Export Management Companies (EMCs) are needed in order to bring in Malaysian agriculture products in bulk, which would mitigate the increasing costs, coordination and logistics issues.
The ACO is already engaging and working together with several EMCs in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France and Germany to increase the number of Malaysian food products in a sustainable manner.
He added the ACO is also always committed and proactive in giving out advice and guidance to industry players in order to gain better market access.
The ACO in The Hague, the Netherlands is a regional office under MAFI, which covers 33 countries including the United Kingdom (UK), 27 European Union countries, 4 European Free Trade Association countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway & Switzerland) and Russia.
Some of the roles and functions of the office are to expand market access, provide advice and to facilitate sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) matters, assist on rules, regulations, import and export requirements for the agriculture sector, facilitate transfer of agriculture technology and explore investment opportunities.
