Industry Outlook: Next 40 Years, FOOD INGREDIENTS AND READY-TO-EAT INDUSTRY
The ready-to-eat industry is a fast growing industry. This is partly due to the changing of consumer needs, especially in the western countries where there has been a decrease in home cooking. Moreover, food processing is one method that helps create added value to the ready-to-eat food industry, which looks set to grow at a faster rate than the other sectors of food industry.
In processing products into ready-to-eat foods, consideration should be given to the eating culture of target customers. Ready-to-eat foods should be delicious, safe, of high quality, and healthy. All of which is likely to help increase market share in line with increasing consumer needs.
Interesting and popular ready-to-eat food products are retort, like retort trays and retort pouches. If domestic raw materials are used in the manufacturing process, the food products should be those local to the regions of foreign target customers, what they eat daily instead of the Thai dishes customers are not familiar with.
Moreover, the ready-to-eat food segment encounters fewer obstacles in marketing than other types of food industry, especially in the world market. This is because the importing countries do not regard Thailand as their main rival. However, we should not take this for granted. What we should do is ensure our food safety. Foods should always meet with the required food standards of the country to which they are imported. This is not difficult for Thai manufacturers which are highly capable of developing their food products in compliance with the required trading regulations.
What Thai food businesses really need includes information about trading rules and regulations, and the opportunity to join the government sector in trade negotiations with their trading partner countries. They also need cooperation in building marketing opportunities, like the cooperation that the Department of Export Promotion provides to new entrepreneurs to enable them to continuously create and develop new market opportunities.