USMEF Conducts Successful Beef, Pork Events in the Philippines
Published: Jul 28, 2011
Over the past several years, the Philippines has been a rapidly developing market for U.S. beef and pork. While metropolitan Manila is the main Filipino commercial center, there are a growing number of opportunities in other areas of the country. Cebu Island, for example, is located in the central Philippines and is one of its most developed provinces - with excellent infrastructure, a low crime rate and economic growth rates that are double the national average.
Cebu was recently selected as Asia’s third-best island destination by Travel and Leisure magazine, and its international hotel brands include the Shangri-la, Marco Polo, Marriott Group and Hilton. Over the years, specialty restaurants and supermarkets have sprouted across the city to accommodate Cebu’s growing number of visitors to the main and the islands around Cebu. This prompted FAS-Manila to hold the first-ever U.S. Fine Food Show in Cebu to reach out to these prospective users of U.S. products.
About 400 participants attended the two-day event, with restaurant owners, chefs, food and beverage managers and culinary students from across the region exploring U.S. food products such as beef, pork, dairy, fruit and processed food items. USMEF partnered with other producer organizations on several cooking demonstrations during the event, distributed U.S. beef and pork cut charts and other educational materials and made several promising new trade contacts.
Cebu was recently selected as Asia’s third-best island destination by Travel and Leisure magazine, and its international hotel brands include the Shangri-la, Marco Polo, Marriott Group and Hilton. Over the years, specialty restaurants and supermarkets have sprouted across the city to accommodate Cebu’s growing number of visitors to the main and the islands around Cebu. This prompted FAS-Manila to hold the first-ever U.S. Fine Food Show in Cebu to reach out to these prospective users of U.S. products.
About 400 participants attended the two-day event, with restaurant owners, chefs, food and beverage managers and culinary students from across the region exploring U.S. food products such as beef, pork, dairy, fruit and processed food items. USMEF partnered with other producer organizations on several cooking demonstrations during the event, distributed U.S. beef and pork cut charts and other educational materials and made several promising new trade contacts.
USMEF also conducted its first-ever meat retailers seminar in Cebu, attracting a strong turnout of more than 50 participants - including meat department personnel and purchasing officers for several of the island’s supermarket chains and gourmet deli shops.
USMEF then partnered with the Raisin Administrative Committee for a cooking demonstration for more than 120 participants. The target audience was made up of local chefs, restaurateurs and resort owners. Emmanuel Stroobant, a celebrity chef based in Singapore, created two U.S. beef dishes utilizing short plate and chuck roll and two U.S. pork dishes utilizing bone-in Boston butt. The dishes also featured California raisins to enhance the taste profile.
“The U.S. Fine Food Show, the meat retailers seminar and the cooking demo were all highly successful events for U.S. beef and pork,” said USMEF-ASEAN Director Sabrina Yin. “Cebu is a very vibrant and exciting and tourist destination, and this is opening up many new opportunities for U.S. products.
“Pork is the preferred protein for most Filipinos and in order to highlight the quality and tenderness of U.S. pork, we presented an additional dish using the bone-in Boston Butt,” Yin continued. “The pork was sliced into 1 centimeter-thick steak portions, lightly marinated with Asian spices and grilled to perfection. Many guests said they were surprised by the juiciness, natural sweetness and desirable portion size offered by pork butt steak.”
USMEF also recently collaborated with JEDCO, one of the most active U.S. meat importers in the southern Philippines, for a U.S. meat foodservice seminar in Davao – a city of about 1.5 million residents that serves as a busy seaport for the island of Mindanao. About 35 JEDCO customers participated in the seminar, including chefs, restaurateurs and hotel foodservice managers. A beef cutting demonstration featured U.S. ribeyes, striploins, porterhouse steaks, top blade, short plate and hanging tenders. On the pork side, jowl meat and riblets were showcased.
USMEF then partnered with the Raisin Administrative Committee for a cooking demonstration for more than 120 participants. The target audience was made up of local chefs, restaurateurs and resort owners. Emmanuel Stroobant, a celebrity chef based in Singapore, created two U.S. beef dishes utilizing short plate and chuck roll and two U.S. pork dishes utilizing bone-in Boston butt. The dishes also featured California raisins to enhance the taste profile.
“The U.S. Fine Food Show, the meat retailers seminar and the cooking demo were all highly successful events for U.S. beef and pork,” said USMEF-ASEAN Director Sabrina Yin. “Cebu is a very vibrant and exciting and tourist destination, and this is opening up many new opportunities for U.S. products.
“Pork is the preferred protein for most Filipinos and in order to highlight the quality and tenderness of U.S. pork, we presented an additional dish using the bone-in Boston Butt,” Yin continued. “The pork was sliced into 1 centimeter-thick steak portions, lightly marinated with Asian spices and grilled to perfection. Many guests said they were surprised by the juiciness, natural sweetness and desirable portion size offered by pork butt steak.”
USMEF also recently collaborated with JEDCO, one of the most active U.S. meat importers in the southern Philippines, for a U.S. meat foodservice seminar in Davao – a city of about 1.5 million residents that serves as a busy seaport for the island of Mindanao. About 35 JEDCO customers participated in the seminar, including chefs, restaurateurs and hotel foodservice managers. A beef cutting demonstration featured U.S. ribeyes, striploins, porterhouse steaks, top blade, short plate and hanging tenders. On the pork side, jowl meat and riblets were showcased.
“We received very positive feedback from our seminar participants in Davao,” said Yin. “Partnering with JEDCO provides unique access to this region’s rapidly growing foodservice sector, creating a very good growth opportunity for U.S. beef and pork.”
Support for these events was provided by the Beef Checkoff and Pork Checkoff Programs and the USDA Market Access Program (MAP). After a record-breaking performance last year, export results to the Philippines have been somewhat mixed in 2011. Through May, U.S. beef exports totaled 5,119 metric tons (11.3 million pounds) valued at $14.4 million – increases of 27 percent and 32 percent, respectively. Pork exports have been slowed by new regulations regarding thawing of imported frozen pork prior to sale. As a result, U.S. pork exports (including variety meat) trail last year’s results by 44 percent in volume (16,363 metric tons or 36.1 million pounds) and 36 percent in value ($35.1 million). However, the Philippines remains the largest destination for U.S. pork in the ASEAN region. For U.S. beef, it is the second-largest value destination behind Vietnam and the third-largest volume destination behind Vietnam and Indonesia.
Support for these events was provided by the Beef Checkoff and Pork Checkoff Programs and the USDA Market Access Program (MAP). After a record-breaking performance last year, export results to the Philippines have been somewhat mixed in 2011. Through May, U.S. beef exports totaled 5,119 metric tons (11.3 million pounds) valued at $14.4 million – increases of 27 percent and 32 percent, respectively. Pork exports have been slowed by new regulations regarding thawing of imported frozen pork prior to sale. As a result, U.S. pork exports (including variety meat) trail last year’s results by 44 percent in volume (16,363 metric tons or 36.1 million pounds) and 36 percent in value ($35.1 million). However, the Philippines remains the largest destination for U.S. pork in the ASEAN region. For U.S. beef, it is the second-largest value destination behind Vietnam and the third-largest volume destination behind Vietnam and Indonesia.