Butti Al Ghandi inaugurates Sweets Middle East exhibition at DWTC

This trade-only exhibition runs until Tuesday.

A total of 135 companies from 27 countries are taking part in the exhibition, including national pavilions from Egypt, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey and the USA, presenting a wide range of ice cream, raw pastes, and snack items.

Egypt, the largest national participant, appearing under the support of the Egyptian Ministry of Trade, gathers 16 companies specialising in hard candies, chocolates, wafers, chips and halawa, with products available in most of the GCC markets.

"Many of the pavilion's participants were at the ISM show in Germany and Gulf Food in Dubai, but they are very keen to be in this show as a specialised event in the sweets sector to explore their opportunities in this market through distributors to establish a stronger footfall in the UAE market for local consumption and re-export markets," said Dalia Kabeel, portfolio manager at the Egyptian Exports Association (Expo Link).

Bilateral trade between Belgium and the UAE has risen by 27%, mainly attributable to food items, and the Belgians have brought of their most innovative products to the show to boost their market presence even further. Belgium has a long tradition in the foods and sweets industry are seeing great potential for their renowned brands.

"Participants at our pavilion are extremely keen to develop their businesses here, so much so that some of them are developing products specifically for this market," said Joannes Bruffaerts, the Flanders trade commissioner in the UAE.

"Companies such as Astra Sweets who are displaying their halal sweets and chocolates that are specially made to meet this market requirements."

Germany, the world's biggest exporter of sweets, exported 2.303 tonnes of sweets worth 7.76m euros to the Middle East last year, a 31% increase on 2005. German representation comprises 16 companies as well as a delegation organised by BDSI, an association that represents the economic interests of largely medium-sized businesses within the German confectionery industry and currently on a trade mission in the UAE.

The delegation of 25 high-profile industry heads will be attending Sweets Middle East 2007 to research the market and evaluate its potential. Part of the programme is to develop industry relations and meet with buyers from regional and international wholesale and retail chains such as Spinneys, Carrefour, and Geant.

French exports to the Middle East amount to roughly 82m euros, and exhibitors are exploring the opportunities to expand their share and presence in the market, especially in chocolates, biscuits, and ice creams.

The trade-only exhibition offers a specialist networking platform for manufacturers of confectionery, ice cream, raw pastes and snack items, who seek to penetrate the lucrative Middle East market that is seen as a prime target for confectionery products, with high per capita consumption of chocolate in particular accounting for annual sales of $4.2bn.

Sweets Middle East Exhibition is supported by the International Sweets and Biscuits Fair Association and platinum sponsor IFFCO. Being a truly international event, visitors to the exhibition expect to meet leading suppliers from across the globe and as far a field as North Africa, Asia, CIS Europe and the Middle East with leading players such as IFFCO (UAE), Istanbul Gida (Turkey), Salehia (Saudi Arabia), Seham (Syria), United Foods Saudi Arabia), Perfetti van Melle (Belgium) and Wrigley (USA/UAE) taking part.

Strategically positioned by leading international exhibition organisers Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) and Koelnmesse, the event brings together key buyers from across the region, and draws on the expertise delivered by the two exhibition industry heavyweights to ensure a targeted platform is delivered.

DWTC, organiser of Gulfood, leverages on the show's status as the region's leading food exhibition, while Koelnmesse uses its international reach as the organisers of Anuga and ISM, respectively the world's largest food event and premier confectionery and snack show.

Sweets Middle East takes place on November 18-20 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.