Big discounts on tasty morsels bring record crowds to food fair

Food lovers crammed into the Food Expo as it ended yesterday. With products being sold at big discounts, business flourished and total attendance hit a record high.

More than 350,000 people flocked to the Convention and Exhibition Centre for the five-day food fair, 15 per cent more than last year, organiser Trade Development Council said.

Meanwhile, about 90,000 people attended the last day of the Hong Kong International Tea Fair, which was making its debut in the city and ended on Saturday at the same venue. The first two days were not open to the public.

The council's assistant executive director, Raymond Yip Chak-yan, said he was satisfied with the fairs. He said food exhibitors from 24 countries came to Hong Kong this year, with 10 of the countries attending for the first time. Ninety-six per cent of buyers interviewed at the tea fair were satisfied with the event.

Countries attending the Food Expo for the first time included Peru, Pakistan and Mexico. 'We featured abalone from Mexico as big as a baby's head,' Mr Yip said.

The managing director of On Kee Dry Seafood, Richard Poon Kuen-fai, said its abalone and dried scallops had sold out, and he expected sales to be 50 per cent up on two years ago, the last time the company joined the fair. Four packs of its dried mushrooms, which cost HK$99 for the first four days, sold for HK$69 on the last day.