Anne Zhang, Henry Xiao

    zhangy49@gmail.com

    FOODINI, a 3-D food printer from Spain, made its China debut in Hall 1 of Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center during this year’s China Hi-Tech Fair.

    “The machine can basically print any food from sweet to savory as long as you make the ingredients into a paste,” Elaine Wu, product manager of Natural Machines, a Spanish company that designed the printer, said Monday.

    Similar in appearance to a microwave oven, Foodini has five milk-bottle-shaped capsules inside to hold fresh ingredients and it works in the same way as a normal 3-D printer, laying down successive layers of different ingredients on top of one another.

    The machine is the first commercially available 3-D printer for printing savory foods in the world, Wu said, adding that the printer had been shown in North America and Europe before coming to China.

    “I’m very impressed,” a Chinese venture capitalist from Jilin Province surnamed Wang said. “I’ve heard of 3-D printing before, but I hardly imagined food could be printed. I think the market for it will be quite big.”

    The printer isn’t available on the market yet, but seven Chinese enterprises showed interest in cooperation on the first day of the exhibition, Wu said.

    Apart from the food printer, the Spanish delegation brought an array of products to the fair, including digital scanning and security devices.

    Francesc Xavier Mironi Rodreiguez, the city promotion adviser of the Barcelona Activa Area, said it’s the sixth time that he has attended the high-tech fair in Shenzhen.

    “The magnificent Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center hadn’t been built when I came to the fair for the first time in 2003,” Rodreiguez said.

    Four Spanish companies attended the fair last year and developed stable business connections with 60 Chinese companies, he said.

    The number of Spanish exhibitors doubled this year. Borja de la Maza with Innovalia Metrology Ltd. is a first-time exhibitor. He said he has spoken with several potential clients who are willing to collaborate and help introduce his company to the Chinese market.

    The Spanish Government implemented a new law last year to encourage investment from overseas, which has greatly boosted Sino-Spanish commercial discourse, Rodreiguez said.