Among the major trade agreements already sealed are deals to ship spices to Syria and South Africa, recorded by market leader GYMA; a contract to supply machines, ingredients, training and services to over 100 shops in the GCC by La Marquise International; and over two million dollars worth of business for The Irish Dairy Board, which had already sold 600 tonnes of dairy products by the third day of the event.
'Gulfood has grown significantly this year, both in the number of visitors and also the volume of business inquiries. The global focus of the event always means that you have the opportunity to meet distributors and buyers from new markets,'
said Ghassan Kazbar, Business Development Manager - UAE Market, Al Ghurair foods, a leading manufacturer of flour, pasta, noodles and edible oils.
Spice and dried fruit processor and packager GYMA has also experienced strong demand for its offerings throughout the show.
Anurag Malkoti, marketing manager, GYMA, comments: 'The level of interest has been extraordinary. We encountered around 600 queries on the first day alone - 80 percent of which were export queries. Given our ambitious plans for growth, this event provides us with a perfect platform to further develop internationally.'
GYMA signed a number of major deals during the show, and expects to export an additional 50-60 tonnes of spices a month directly as a result of deals already closed at Gulfood.
La Marquise International also expects a sharp rise in business, with major contracts signed at the event including a deal to supply over 100 shops for a major food chain across the region.
'The volume of business leads generated at this year's Gulfood has been extremely high, but it's the scale and quality of some of the deals under discussion which makes it such an exciting event,' said Anthony Bedoyan, Technical Commercial Manager, La Marquise International.
Organisers are confident that the total volume of trade generated by Gulfood will easily exceed that of previous years. Final figures - including the full tally of visitors - are due to be released after the show.
Gulfood 2008 is set to return February 24 - February 27, with an extra 10,000 m2 exhibition space allocated at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
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Anne-Birte Stensgaard, Senior News Editor


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