As mentioned in a previous blog post, Carmi Flavors does a great job of content marketing through their targeted email newsletters. We’ve recently partnered with them on sharing content. Featured below is an article that was written by Lindsey Radek from Carmi Flavors about best practices for exporting US food & beverage products overseas.
Best Practices for Exporting US Food & Beverage Products Overseas
Author: Lindsey Radek, Carmi Flavors
The US-China Business Council’s (USCBC) annual report on US State Exports to China shows that the world’s second-largest economy continues to be an important market for the economic health of American companies and farmers. In 2013, US exports to China reached $120 billion, making it the third-largest export market for US goods behind Canada and Mexico.
These numbers show the growing potential for US food and beverage companies looking to expand their brand beyond American soil. We recently sat down with Peter Guyer, president of Athena Marketing International (AMI), a leading consulting firm in global food and beverage exportation, and picked his brain on the best way to take advantage of the growing international food and beverage markets.
AMI works in more than 130 countries, importing US food & beverage products, specifically Europe, Asia and South America. Guyer added AMI has seen a recent increase in demand in the Middle East and Africa.
Guyer’s Top Tips for Successfully Exporting your Product:
- Comply with packaging regulations: Research the country’s packaging requirements that you are targeting.
- Write ingredients in the appropriate foreign language.
- Comply with import regulations: Make sure there are no ingredients that are prohibited—a lot of preservatives used in the US are prohibited in foreign countries. For more information, read the recently revised country requirements from the USDA.
- Best selling products include mass market items: potato chips, snack foods and meat products—products that are well-known in foreign countries.
- Products that are novel, innovative and new do well: The markets are smaller, therefore sales are lower but the growth rate is high.
- Europe is hot: They are just getting out of a lengthy recession and their buying power is coming back to where it was five years ago.
- Attend/Exhibit major international trade shows: Particularly in Europe—ANUGA Cologne and SIAL Paris. Guyer said Gulfood in the Middle East is a trade show you can’t miss. And, Asia has many major trade shows, but they are more segmented by categories within food and beverage.