Updates

UK’s leading fine food exhibition

7 April 2022
Antony Reeve-Crook

Joint effort between the International Trade Centre and UK Government gives audiences a chance to taste volcanic pepper at London fine food fair.

 

 

The UK’s top fine food exhibition gave visitors a chance to taste volcanic pepper, the world’s richest vanilla, choice chocolate and a score of other ethically sourced products, thanks to a joint effort by the UK Government and the International Trade Centre to promote unique produce from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

This year’s Speciality & Fine Food Fair hosted the inaugural UK Trade Partnerships Programme (UKTP) pavilion, funded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and implemented by the Geneva-based International Trade Centre (ITC).

The pavilion built a bridge between the UK and 16 export-ready businesses from developing countries, and generated more than 300 leads over the two days at London’s Olympia exhibition centre. Each lead is an opportunity for these businesses to make their mark on the international fine food scene.

Products on display included Penja pepper, a gourmet pepper grown in the volcanic soils of Cameroon’s Penja Valley and prized by Michelin Star chefs; raw and processed cashews from the Ivory Coast, and vanilla and cloves from the Comoros, the second largest producer of Bourbon vanilla beans.

The exhibitors also showcased fine chocolate, hot sauces, organic baby food, plant-based meats and snacks, and condiments from the Caribbean.

“The Speciality & Fine Food Fair was an amazing opportunity to create visibility for our products in the UK market. The guests were influential and the fair left us with much work ahead; a spectacular experience,” said Nicole Jacobo, representing exhibitor Plant Powered.

“The SFFF was a fantastic event for us and we made a lot of contacts we would not have otherwise had the chance to make,” added Daniel Jackman of Dominican Republic-based Definite Chocolate. “We received terrific feedback on our products and I can’t wait to see where this leads.”

The pavilion was one of several projects planned to punctuate ITC’s UKTP Programme, which taps into the trend for ethically sourced, in-demand, sustainable products while creating economic opportunity and sustainable community growth in countries otherwise unable to access such market linkages directly.

As the joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, ITC is the only multilateral agency fully dedicated to supporting the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises. Under the UKTP Programme, it does this through maximising the benefits of Economic Partnership Agreements with the UK and EU.

While the programme hopes to shine a light on the products’ appeal for both niche and mass market exports, UKTP is equally designed to instil a gender-based and environmental focus while building capacity and trade promotion activities in the source markets.