KARACHI: Foreign exhibitors see lots of potential for their machinery and technology in the fast growing food processing and packaging market in Pakistan, saying that they are having good business at the plastic, food and beverage packaging technology exhibition being held at Karachi Expo Centre.
Elecster OYJ, Finland, Director Far East Operations Hannu Asunmaa said Wednesday that he sees a lot of potential in Pakistani market for the technology his company is offering. Pakistan is the 4th largest milk producer in the world and we see here a big market for us, he observed.“We are here for the first time. Our company is offering soft packaging material which costs one-forth of the tetra pack used for milk packaging,” he added.
He said his company sells polythene pouches for milk in 70 countries around the world. We call it ‘milk for masses’. Alpha Penta Managing Director Aarij Iqbal, representing leading German company Kronen, said all the leading beverage companies in Pakistan use our plants. The response is very positive at this exhibition. But since our plants are very costly, it gets a lot of time to click the deal, he added. Iqbal said that Pakistan has a lucrative market for food-processing machinery, but there is need to create awareness among our buyers about the benefits of value addition.Ashutosh Tripathi of Sealed Air, a US company and global leader in food safety and security and facility hygiene, said that the market is growing in Pakistan for food packaging and hygiene.
He said Cryovac and Diversity are two subsidiaries of Sealed Air, offering food and beverage technology. Our company is already selling machinery and technology here for the last five years, but we are attending this exhibition for the first time, Tripathi said. He said it was easy and economical to supply these products from India to Pakistan rather than importing them from China or USA. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are our clients. Organising company Pegasus Consultancy’s Managing Director Aamer Khanzada said that leading exhibitors from UAE, Iran, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are also here to explore potential of Pakistan’s market. They will attend the next Plasti & Pack, iftech and food + bev tec exhibitions and display their products. He said leading buyers have come from Lahore to buy machinery and technology for their companies.
