F&B trade show postponed on Covid-19 fears after initial plans to go ahead

AFTER initial plans to go ahead despite the novel coronavirus outbreak, the industry trade show FHA-Food & Beverage has now been postponed due to "global travel concerns" and the outbreak's "spillover effects" on the food and beverage (F&B) industry. 

Organiser Informa Markets said this on Monday of the event, which was supposed to have taken place from March 31 to Apr 3 at Singapore Expo.

ProWine Asia (Singapore) 2020, another industry event that's co-organised by Messe Dusseldorf Asia and Informa Markets, will also be postponed. It was to have been held alongside FHA-Food & Beverage. 

"The situation is still evolving and we see this decision to postpone FHA-Food & Beverage and ProWine Asia (Singapore) 2020 as being in the best interests of our event attendees, partners and staff," said Martyn Cox, event director for hospitality and F&B at Informa Markets in Singapore. 

"Our focus now is to provide our exhibitors, event partners and registered visitors with the support they require as a result of this decision. We will continue to work in partnership with the relevant government authorities and agencies and take all further measures in accordance with the latest advisories published by the Singapore Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Manpower and the Singapore Tourism Board," he added. 

FHA-Food & Beverage is an expansion of the Food & Hotel Asia (FHA) trade event, which has been split into two shows this year. The other is FHA HoReCa, which had earlier been postponed to July 13-16. 

It is the latest event in Singapore's meetings, incentive travel, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) sector to be affected by the virus outbreak.