Significant 13% growth with industry demand

Gulfood, the world’s biggest annual trade exhibition for the food and hospitality industry, is set to expand by 13% - more than 12,500sqm - next year to offer1 13,398sqm in exhibition space.The expansion includes an additional temporary hall, Zabeel Pavilion, dedicated to food and drink companies due to overwhelming demand both regionally and globally. Gulfood organisers have reported a sold out show a full six months before the event kicks off from February 25-28, 2013 at Dubai World Trade Centre.

Under the theme “International Flavours, World Class Business”, Gulfood 2013 is on track to provide exporters,buyers, exhibitors and visitors benefit an even broader trade and sourcing platform as well as knowledge exchange,training, competitions and live events. The latest edition of Gulfood, held in February this year, attracted 68,681 trade visitors from 152 countries – an 11% increase from the previous year – with a 61% international visitor presence. In addition, the 2012 show drew 3,816 exhibitors and offered 110 international pavilions. The additional exhibition space will allow many of the hundreds of exhibitors queuing for a presence at Gulfood to finally showcase their products in this fast-growth market including new country pavilions from Ecuador, Lithuania and Oman.

Fran?ois Sporrer, French trade commissioner and director, UBIFRANCE United Arab Emirates said, “I am delighted DWTC continues to invest in new exhibition space. At UBIFRANCE, we are inundated with requests from French companies wanting to participate in this important exhibition and now we can bring more French companies to satisfy the huge market demand for high quality produce and equipment. Gulfood is already the world’s largest annual food and hospitality event and this additional capacity means this is now the largest French pavilion at any food event worldwide.”

“The highly-anticipated Gulfood 2013 event is an essential event for those organisations and companies that want to forge new partnerships and secure lucrative business opportunities,” said Helal Saeed Almarri, CEO, Dubai World Trade Centre, the organiser of Gulfood.

“The show provides the region’s largest central business hub for exhibitors and industry suppliers to experience an unrivalled product and service showcase and the opportunity to meet serious international buyers face-to-face. For trade visitors, the event offers an exceptional opportunity to source and select from a global product showcase, network with thousands of industry peers to drive the market forward and review the latest trends and innovations through the entire chain, from raw ingredients and machinery through to finished products and restaurant styling,” said Mr Almarri.

The additional exhibition space at Gulfood 2013 will accommodate the huge demand for participation, enable more processing and packaging equipment space, and allow exhibitors to demonstrate their larger machinery and equipment ranges. Increased space has also been provided to Ingredients, which supports the region’s increasing drive to manufacture and move up the value chain. The largest exhibition space increase has been provided to finished food – especially exhibitors focused on rMens Running Shoes