Gulfood Manufacturing, the Middle East’s largest food, beverage, manufacturing and processing exhibition, which opens tomorrow (October 31) in Dubai, UAE, will highlight latest food industry solutions and hot topics such as value added tax (VAT) and sector-shaping trends.

The three-day event will conclude on November 2, and will feature more than 1,600 local, regional and international suppliers and industry service providers from 60 countries and 30 official country pavilions.

This year’s show will feature five dedicated sectors: ingredients, processing, packaging, supply chain solutions, and for the first time, a focused automation and controls sector, which will highlight how automation and robotics are revolutionising the industry, said a statement from the organisers.

Spanning 80,000-sq-m of exhibition space across 13 halls; the show will reveal the future of food and beverage production and provide an opportunity to network, exchange ideas and learning, while the Business Talks Conferences will give visitors a deeper understanding of the state of the UAE manufacturing industry, how the GCC-wide introduction of VAT on January 1 will impact the market and which trends are shaping the future for manufacturers and producers, it said.

Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice president, exhibitions and events management, DWTC: “The food industry is one of the most dynamic and rapidly changing industries in the region and beyond.”

“To that end, the event plays a crucial role in highlighting the ever-changing food and beverage market and trends. The show is a conduit for industry stakeholders eager to accelerate their regional distribution and sales potential, and develop new routes in the food manufacturing sector,” she said.

“The continued growth of Gulfood Manufacturing emphasises how important the show has become for the market leaders and key decision makers and further demonstrates that amid political and economic challenges across the globe Dubai continues to offer a supremely stable base to do business, backed by a visionary leadership and a government that is committed to investment and diversification of the economy,” she added.

The geographic pull of Gulfood Manufacturing is evidenced with exhibitors from 60 countries exhibiting at the 2017 edition, including first-time participation from countries including Poland and across the CIS.

Gulfood Manufacturing will see the biggest Italian participation in the show’s history, with 3,800-sq-m dedicated to companies spanning all sections of the country’s food manufacturing and equipment industry supply chain.

All the major manufacturing countries will be present, including Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, US and the UK.

China, meanwhile, has also brought its biggest participation to date as the Far East giant challenges the status quo across the industry.

In addition, the event will also feature a Big Buyers Programme, hosting more than 2,000 pre-qualified serious buyers - one of the region’s biggest hosted buyer programmes – with a pre-determined budget to spend with exhibitors.

Additionally, new for this year’s show is the Gulfood Manufacturing Industry Excellence Awards, which will recognise industry excellence in a glittering ceremony tomorrow (October 31).

Also new, the innovation tours will offer visitors the opportunity to witness some of the region’s most advanced and progressive food factories and their world-class, top-of-the-line production capabilities that make them the best in the business, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service