Arab Beverages Association formed

At least seven beverages companies in the Arab world have agreed to form the Arab Beverages Association (ABA) as an offshoot of the first-ever Arab Beverages Forum where about 70 international and regional beverage industry executives and consultants recently gathered in Dubai.

Sharaf Dabbagh, president of Taaheel FZ LLC, a Dubai-based consultancy specializing in the Arab beverage industry, said that ABA will be based in Dubai with chapters in Cairo and Jeddah.

"The Arab Beverages Association is being initiated by Taaheel and supported by Faragalla Group of Egypt and Al-Rabie of Saudi Arabia. These two companies were also very supportive of the idea to conduct a gathering of top-level executives from the beverage industry in the Arab world," Mr. Dabbagh explained.

Faragalla holds the biggest juice drink market share in Egypt, while Al-Rabie is the biggest juice manufacturing company in the Middle East. "This gathering of beverage industry executives is a welcome development because the Arab beverage market is a very important and dynamic market where we can learn from each other to be able to further grow and develop the beverage market." Mr. Monther Al Harthi of Al-Rabie emphasized on the last day of the Arab Beverages Forum held on June 19 and 20.

Mr. Dabbagh further announced the winners of the first Qatrah Awards which recognized the most innovative beverages brands available in the Arab market:
- Best Carbonated Soft Drink: Celsius calorie-burning cola of Joseph and Gionis LLC
- Best Juice Beverage: Danao juice milk drink of Al-Safi-Danone Co. Ltd.
- Best Health and Energy Drink: Al-Rabie MultiFruit and Vitamin Juice of Al-Rabie Saudi Foods Co. Ltd.
- Best Dairy Drink: Activia fresh and healthy laban and yoghurt of Al-Safi-Danone Co. Ltd.
- Best Hot Beverage: Lipton tea of Unilever
- Best Innovative Packaged Beverage: Al-Rabie Tetra Prisma Aseptic of Al-Rabie Saudi Foods Co. Ltd.

Tetra Pak, Al-Rabie and Lipton were the major sponsors of the Arab Beverages Forum, with Bayt.com as strategic online media partner and Soft Drinks International as media sponsor.