His Excellency Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy, opened Gulfood Manufacturing, the largest food and beverage processing and packaging show for the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia (MEASA), which has reconvened the global industry at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) to power smart innovations in food manufacturing and reignite live, face-to-face big business opportunities over the next three days – and beyond.
His Excellency Al Marri said the UAE occupying a leading position in the region’s food trade industry, attributing this success to the wise vision of the country’s leadership. The UAE’s trade in food commodities contributed more than 7% of the country’s GDP for 2020, and more than 8.4% of the non-oil GDP for the same year at current prices.
His Excellency explained that the UAE continues to position itself as a major global trade and investment, and manufacturing partner in the food sector, as trade in food commodities accounted for 5.5% of the country’s total non-oil foreign trade volume during the first half of 2021 and about 6.2% in 2020.
Over the past five years, from 2016 to 2020, the volume of the UAE’s trade in food commodities grew by 21% with a cumulative volume of AED444 billion. During 2020, despite the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic on food and beverage trade in particular, the country achieved 3% growth in its food and beverage exports compared with 2019. In the first half of 2021, the country’s trade of food commodities grew 9% compared with period last year.
“Gulfood Manufacturing has fostered its leading position as a global platform for F&B supply chains and highlights the UAE position as a regional and global hub. The show has become a rich platform of innovative and digital solutions that harness technology to develop enhanced products, services, and solutions for food manufacturing and trade. We are confident that the show will drive further economic activities and incentivize added-value business practices by facilitating best practices exchange, which is aligned with the national UAE objectives,” said His Excellency.
“F&B related economic activities are a key pillar for various comprehensive national strategies that aim to develop the operational framework and launch projects and initiatives that contribute to the economic and social development in the UAE throughout the coming decades. This falls in line with the vision of our wise leadership, the Principles of the 50, and the UAE Centennial 2071, and most importantly the economic diversification strategy that aims to increase exports and attract further investments; as well as Operation 300 billion, which aims to enhance national strategies and Food Security Strategy,” H.E. added.
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Sheikh Saeed 2- S2-100
