Dubai – Food imports of the countries of the Gulf may more than double over the decade, according to forecasts presented by the Minister of Trade of the United Arab Emirates, Lubna Al Qasimi, at a seminar at Gulfood, the sector fair that began on Sunday and ends on Wednesday (22), in Dubai. She provided figures from the Economist Intelligence Unit that estimate growth in purchases abroad from the US$ 25.8 billion of 2010 to US$ 53.1 billion in 2020, or 106% more.
According to forecasts, consumption of food in the region should reach 51.1 million tonnes in 2020, with average annual growth of 4.6%, with imported products representing 90% of the market. Projections, according to the minister, were based on the expected growth in population of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which should reach 50 million by the end of the decade, as against the current 40.6 million, on perspectives for growth of the local economies and on per capita income. The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the Emirates, Kuwait and Oman.
In the Emirates, the second main market in the region, only behind Saudi Arabia, imports may grow even further, according to Qasimi, from US$ 3 billion in 2011 to US$ 8.4 billion in 2020. Food consumption in the country should grow 5.4% a year, on average.
“And there are the 10 million tourists and the 50 million transit passengers who visit us annually and add to our food requirements,” said the minister, recalling that the local hotels and restaurants represent an important share of business. The restaurant sector, according to the minister, may grow 30% over the next four years, to US$ 780 million.
Apart from the local market, she also pointed out that the country is a great re-exporter of products, used as a base for distribution to other markets in the region, and even outside it. Qasimi pointed out, for example, that the Emirates are the world’s main re-exporters of rice and also trade significant volumes of items like coffee and tea. “[The country] is thus a very favourable destination for food business and investments,” she said.
Highly dependent on food imports due to the lack of fertile lands, the countries of the Gulf are greatly concerned with food safety. The minister pointed out that the United Nations (UN) estimates that some US$ 70 billion in additional investment each year will be necessary to guarantee the supply of the global population by 2050. “For a region such as the Gulf […] there is an added urgency to secure [food] sources that are safe and sustainable,” she said.
Movement
The interest of companies in the food sector in the region is evident at Gulfood. The halls of Dubai World Trade Centre were completely crowded with exhibitors and visitors in this year’s edition. According to fair director Mark Napier, there is a waiting list of 900 companies interested in exhibiting, but there is no space available. “I would like to have the space,” said the executive.
The fair is the greatest in the sector in the Middle East and currently calls itself the largest in the world in the areas of food and hospitality. Among the events of the kind in the region, it is one of those receiving the largest number of Brazilian exhibitors.
*Translated by Mark Ament
