GULFOOD 2016 BEGINS TODAY

World’s largest food and hospitality show to feature a record 5,000 exhibitors

Workers are busy putting finishing touches to their stall on Saturday, a day before the start of Gulfood 2016 at Dubai World Trade Centre. The five-day event will run until Thursday. —

This week marks a coming of age for Gulfood — one of the world’s leading food trading platforms — which celebrates its 21st edition at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) with a record exhibitor and pavilion line-up.

The event, which includes the third edition of Halal World Food (now the globe’s biggest annual halal food sourcing trade event) will feature 5,000 international companies from 120 countries and 117 trade and industry pavilions.

The exhibitor line-up includes finished food producers, bulk commodity wholesalers, distributors, exporters and the show’s largest-ever collection of hospitality equipment suppliers. The companies will occupy in excess of 1.29 million square feet of indoor exhibition space.

“The rise of Gulfood is down to a number of key factors, including Dubai’s global standing as an import and re-export hub, the emirate’s growing sea-air transport links expanding its geographic trading footprint and the strategic importance placed on the domestic and regional tourism and hospitality industries,” said Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice-president, exhibitions and events management, DWTC.

“Multiply these drivers by rapid population growth, food security concerns and the growth in food manufacturing and processing in the UAE, the wider region and emerging countries, and you understand why Gulfood is now internationally recognised as the strategic trading platform for the global food industry.”

With a recent report from STR Global identifying some 538 hotels under construction in the Middle East and another 321 under contract in Africa, the record response to Gulfood mirrors the widespread investment in the hospitality industry that is driving regional states’ economic diversification policies.

Expanded participation

Gulfood 2016 features a raft of new exhibitors, expanded participation by returnees and a wealth of new-to-market products.

“For the retail, food service, catering and hospitality industries, Gulfood presents an incredible sourcing opportunity with hundreds of new product launches, innovations in health and special diet and a wider

— Photo by Neeraj Murali range of ethnic and speciality foods,” added LohMirmand.

“For the wholesale, food import and export buyers, the multi-million dollar transactions made at Gulfood will set pricing benchmarks throughout 2016. This is why market-makers and the biggest traders from around the world attend Gulfood — it’s where the big deals are made, company to company and country to country.”

The importance of Gulfood as a global trading platform is demonstrated by the 117 national and food export industry groups attending this year’s event. These pavilions include first-time representation from Russia, Costa Rica, Belarus, Mauritius and New Zealand returning after a six-year break.

Russia’s Gulfood debut marks the launch of a global export sales push for the country’s leading food producers. The Russian product line-up includes a range of frozen and chilled meat and poultry products, including frozen halal chicken and beef, milk and dairy products, yogurts, cheeses and seed oils.

Japan, buoyed by record 2015 agricultural, forestry and fishery exports to the UAE amounting to Dh214 million, has expanded its pavilion by 150 per cent. The Japanese External Trade Organisationled

Gulfood — it’s where the big deals are made, company to company and country to country

Trixie LohMirmand, Senior vice-president, exhibitions and

events management, DWTC

promotion will feature 27 newto-the-region companies with a strong focus on halal and healthrelated products and genuine Wagyu beef suppliers.

Eighty Brazilian companies are looking to build on the country’s 2015 exports to the GCC reaching almost $4 billion, with the UAE absorbing nearly a third.

Rise in French exports

France has 71 food and beverage companies and 28 food service equipment providers at Gulfood. French food, beverage and hospitality exports to the UAE have shown year-on-year growth since 2009, with the trade rising by 10 per cent in 2014.

Egypt has 125 companies at the show and a much wider, multicommodities exhibitor profile ranging from freshly frozen fruit and vegetables to chocolate biscuits, dairy and dates.

Pakistan’s revitalised food and beverage agricultural industry is launching a major export push at the show with 51 Pakistani companies. The country’s Gulfood pavilion has grown from 90 square metres in 2015 to 450 square metres this year.

Pakistani exhibitors will be looking to source new buyers for a huge range of products, including rice, sauces, nuts, frozen foods, sweets, confectionery and tea.

Gulfood 2016 is expected to draw a record trade attendance of more than 85,000 visitors from over 170 countries.