Gulfood 2019, the world’s largest annual food and beverage trade exhibition, ended its 24th run at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) with major alliance breakthroughs and multibillion-dollar export deals.

The 2019 edition of the show was the largest to date, attracting more than 100,000 visitors from 200-plus countries seeking business opportunities and exploring the latest F&B products and innovation.

The 1,000,000-sq-ft show incorporated a range of new features under the theme ‘The World of Good. The World of Food’, including the Tastes of the World, which hosted 50 world renowned chefs displaying their skills in 59 cooking demonstrations.

Gulfood sets F&B agenda for industry heavyweights

Business France, the French government agency that promotes the European country’s exports, hosted a diverse range of French F&B producers across a number of the show’s sectors during its five-day run and hailed the success of the 2019 event.

“French companies deem Gulfood as an essential part of their regional and global F&B plans. The show is the perfect opportunity for French decision makers to meet local partners, confirm deals and further expand on the growth of business between France and the various countries of region,” said Marc Cagnard, managing director, Business France.

Gianpoalo Bruno, Italian trade commissioner to the UAE, Oman and Pakistan said, “Gulfood is the world’s largest annual food and beverage trade show and it is an important exhibition for the Italian Trade Agency to promote ‘Made in Italy’ products and ingredients to the Middle East region. This year, we showcased the very best of the Italian agri-food sector and our culinary heritage at The Italian Food Lab. We organised cooking masterclasses with renowned Italian chefs based in Dubai and focused on the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet and spreading knowledge to a wide audience.”

Across the five days, Gulfood also facilitated an additional 6,700 individual trade meetings with an average of $1 million in deals per participating company.

“Gulfood has been a resounding success this year, with deals totalling more than $21 million signed at the Chilean pavilion. This eclipsed the business done at the event last year by over one million dollars. Forecast for business related to the show will reach $50 million this year,” said Carlos Salas, Trade Commissioner of Chile in Dubai.

There was further South American success at Gulfood 2019 with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (APEX-Brasil) reporting a combined, on-site order intake of $1.45 billion among its 79 exhibitors with the export bonanza coming mainly from orders for meat, grains and processed foods.

Meanwhile, participants in the FOOD Philippines pavilion jointly netted more than $83.2 million in sales with the Philippines trade agency DTI-CITEM attributing its delegation’s success largely to its Halal-certified food and beverage selections; dried, tinned and frozen fish; fruit and vegetables; as well as nuts and condiments, with orders coming from more than 1,163 foreign buyers from the Middle East, Africa and beyond.

“Once again Gulfood has shown its magnetic attraction as a business booster to Dubai’s globally acknowledged standing as a world-class event host and major re-export hub and its global appeal is self-evident. This year’s show was unprecedented in terms of the diversity of exhibitors and products, the quality of content available and high level of business and networking opportunities,” said Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice president, Exhibitions & Events, DWTC.

“The extensive levels of trade at Gulfood mirror Dubai’s strategic geographic location for transshipment success and the emirate is now undoubtedly central to a global food trade that is undergoing rapid transformation and development led by dramatically shifting consumer preferences, heightened international regulation and technology adoption.”

Meanwhile, as DWTC readies to celebrate Gulfood’s silver anniversary showing from February 16-20, 2020, key exhibitors at the 2019 event are busy following up major export leads and alliances sealed at the show. Dubai’s leading food manufacturer Hunter Foods left the show buoyed by a slew of new leads and enquiries which it expects to translate to a major new export boost.

“Gulfood is a must for us, it represents 50 per cent growth in export sales for our business,” said Ananya Narayan, managing director, Hunter Foods, a leading food manufacturer in Dubai. “We met more than 20 new market leads for us to explore. It’s now up to us to convert these enquiries into new business deals. Our aim is to keep on growing and keep innovating to do Dubai and the UAE proud.”

Another leading Middle East name - retail giant T. Choithrams & Sons –is progressing with the memorandum of understanding it signed at the show with Future Consumer Limited (FCL), the major Indian Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) player. The two food giants have agreed to partner across the UAE, Bahrain and other markets to bring FCL’s portfolio of leading brands to Middle East consumers.

Additionally, segment-specific show portfolio making a return include Gulfood Manufacturing, SEAFEX and yummex Middle East and a newly tailored event - Private Label & Licensing Middle East (PRIME), which will run simultaneously from October 29-31, 2019. Meanwhile, the 2020 events calendar will feature GulfHost and The Speciality Food Festival, taking place from April 6-8, 2020. – TradeArabia News Service