F&B Exporting is Like Playing Football

Scoring a goal requires skill, dedication and teamwork.

Negotiating an export deal in the food and beverage sector in Asia is a lot like playing football. There are a lot of defenders and only a few strikers.

In the game of exporting, defenders come in all shapes and sizes from trade barriers to poor communicators. It takes a team with dedication and skill to keep the ball moving down the field to score a goal.

Weeks can be lost as the various players wait their turn. Samples can be dispatched late or held up in customs. Distributors can be overrun and neglect new business opportunities. Demand for particular products can wax and wane. Volume and pricing can be difficult to determine.  

You might make it past all these defenders only to be tackled by some regulatory complication you didn’t see coming. As a result, the ball sits stationary, attention is diverted and the goal stretches further afield.

To be successful at growing export markets across Asia you must have tenacity, good negotiating skills, a powerful sales pitch and a unifying picture of the various players on the field and how they must come together to win.

While a striker may only get a few chances a game, their job is to turn them into goals by using all the tools in their arsenal.

This article was written for EMA Business Plus Magazine, November 2019.