Gulfood 2015: Biggest, most influential edition

GULFOOD marked its 20th anniversary with its largest and most influential edition. The show’s 2015 run, which was held in February at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), gathered together 4,800 exhibitors and 84,642 visitors from 170 countries.

Show-floor trading and year-round legacy sales are forecast to reach billions of US dollars, a testament to Gulfood’s reputation as the leading global gateway for foodstuff commodities trade. The show’s more than 127,000-square-metre exhibition space, which included a 23,000-square-meter purpose-built temporary structure, the largest-of-its-type regionally, hosted over 1,000 industry decision-makers, celebrity chefs, key exhibitors, customers, media, and national groups. In addition to regular attendees, participating exhibitors included hundreds of first timers who had been waitlisted for several years as well as many small companies.

Tens of thousands of brands from finished foods and bulk commodities to beverage products, food service and hospitality equipment, and fresh, frozen, dry and processed food. The second Halal World Food presented more than 1,000 international specialist Halal food brands and companies.

Gulfood emphasised the increasing value of the Halal food category, which represented a fifth of the world’s food trade based on Datamonitor 2014. Global Futures and Foresights Study forecasts the sector will hit US$10 trillion by 2030. The Halal Investment Conference marked the implementation of the Halal standardisation and certification frameworks. The unveiling of Emirates Authority for Standardisation & Metrology’s (ESMA) Halal Mark reflected Dubai’s vision to become a global Islamic Economy capital. Two UAE-based companies were certified to use the national Halal Mark. These were Global Food Industries, a frozen food manufacturer in Sharjah, and Agthia, an Abu Dhabi-based food and beverage firm.

ESMA revealed Australia and New Zealand are the first countries to meet the new Halal Mark requirements on imported meat products.

As a key platform for knowledge sharing and global dialogue, the series of industry forums and seminars at the show allowed government ministers, top-level officials, international industry leaders, and food business experts to discuss issues surrounding the global food industry. These covered food security, food franchising, and Halal.

The World Food Security Summit, a Gulfood Leaders Event held on the sidelines of Gulfood 2015, reinforced the value of role of GCC nations in building strategic public-private sector partnerships to address food security concerns regionally and globally. The summit tackled the issues of sustainable global agriculture industry, policy reforms, international farmland acquisition, strategies, and domestic agriculture initiatives.

In the Food Franchising Forum, industry leaders shared best practices and provided insights on successful franchise networks and management.

At the sixth Gulfood Awards, His Excellency Essa Al Ghurair, Chairman, Al Ghurair Resources LLC was awarded the Gulfood Industry Outstanding Achievement Award.

Gulfood 2015 leveraged the logistics infrastructure and customs service of Dubai, one of the world’s largest, central trading hubs and a gateway between East and West. According to Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice president, DWTC Exhibitions & Events Management, “The remarkable growth of Gulfood since its first edition 28 years ago is a reflection of Dubai’s global standing as a trade, logistics, and commerce hub for the food and hospitality sectors and, at the same time, a strategic driver for the growth and development of the UAE’s increasingly diverse economy.”

South America sent its largest-ever delegation at this year’s event, with the participation of companies from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay. Ecuador, which started with a small stand three years ago, sent nine companies representing different sectors, according to Xavier Larrea, marketing manager of PRO Ecuador, the country’s trade and investment promotion organisation.

“Through our participation at Gulfood, we want to promote exports and attract foreign direct investment and tourism from the Middle East to Ecuador. After the great results we had last year, we are sure this year will yield further strong results,” Mr Larrea stated.

US companies, which exceeded 150, occupied one of the largest pavilions at more 2,000 square meters. This reflected Gulfood’s role in the country’s growing agricultural exports to the UAE, which last year reached $1.5 billion.

“With estimated on-site sales exceeding $80 million and sales in the next 12 months projected to exceed $265 million as a direct result of the show, Gulfood stands as one of the most important food shows in the world for US agricultural exports. Every exhibitor I talked to is already looking forward to participating in 2016,” said Quintin Gray, regional agricultural counselor of the United States Department of Agriculture Office Agricultural Affairs.

Gulfood returns to DWTC on 21-25 February 2016.