Dubai – Egyptian companies closed deals during their participation in the 28th Gulfood, the trade show that took place in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, last week. For the first time, contracts were signed over five days of the exhibition, Egyptian Food Export Council CEO May Khairy told ANBA.
The executive said the most important fact of the Egyptian participation in Gulfood was the success of many exhibiting companies, signing these contracts to supply products effective immediately. According to Khairy, many even landed deals with new clients they met for the first time in the show. He stressed the presence of new importers in Egypt’s space.
The Egyptian pavilion at Gulfood 2023 had dairy, juice and cereal companies showcasing their goods. The council’s CEO aims to increase the number of spaces allocated to Egyptian companies in the next editions, considering the ever-increasing interest showed by several companies.
Alaa El-Wakeel, representative of the council, said Gulfood saw an unprecedented number of visitors. He expects that this will contribute to increase exports from Egypt. He noticed that the number of visitors are now higher than pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, the countries participating in the exhibition are now different, with companies from East Asia, the Eastern Europe (including Russia), and Africa, he said.
El-Wakeel noted the show used to be a regional exhibition focused on the Gulf and later included North Africa, too, particularly Egypt and the Levant. Eventually, it attracted other African countries, and now it reaches East Asia and the Eastern Europe, thus becoming a global exhibition. “Egyptian firms witnessed this development, as they were visited by many clients from various countries over the days of the exhibition,” he said.
Juice and concentrate firms
Upper Egypt for Concentrates & Juices (UEFCON) chairman Jamal Arif also noticed a high number visitors, up to three times higher than last year’s and above pre-pandemic levels, and said it exceeded all expectations.
He stressed that exhibition visitors were old clients that came to reencounter suppliers, as well as new ones from countries that didn’t use to participate in previous editions. “In the past editions, most visitors were Arabs and Africans, but this has started to change. Many other countries are keen to attend, which reiterates that exhibition is a global event, not regional.
Pasta and concentrate firms
Ahmed El Sebai, general manager of the Egyptian-Swiss Company, which manufactures pastas and concentrates, said the attendance of the show exceeded expectations and that the visitors atteneded the event with very specific goals and really sought to sign contracts during the exhibition.
Sebai was one of the companies that signed export deals for its pastas and sauces at the show in Dubai for the first time. According to its executive, visitors usually peruse the participating companies and just meets the exhibitors during the show. Details used to be negotiated only after the show ended and they were back to their country of origin, unlike this year.
Translated by Georgette Merkhan & Guilherme Miranda
