Jafza attracts strong industry interest from food and beverage sector during Gulfood 2013

The Free Zone has received more than 800 queries from F&B majors from Europe and Asia Pacific during the prestigious annual Food and Beverage industry show which includes a significant number of real prospects.

Ibrahim Mohamed Al Janahi, Deputy CEO Jafza and Chief Commercial Officer of EZW, commenting on the strong industry interest in the Middle East and in Jafza, said, "Overwhelming interest of F&B industry majors in Jafza facilities during Gulfood shows the strength of rapidly growing Middle East region particularly in the food and beverage sector and the established credentials of Jafza as a hub to reach and serve the region efficiently."

"The GCC food market alone is expected to grow by more than 11% annually in 2013 to reach Dhs260bn, and even more in the next years, on the back of growing population and increase in per capita income in the region. This provides huge opportunities for F&B companies in the region," he added.

During Gulfood Jafza team met its key customers and discussed with them growth opportunities in the region and the way to move forward. Jafza also met number of exhibitors and prospective investors interested in the region during the exhibition and promoted the Free Zone and Dubai as an unmatched trade and logistics hub for the Middle East region particularly for the food and beverage sector.

Dubai and Jafza are the two key trading hubs for the global food and beverage industry in the Middle East region. 428 leading F&B multinationals including scores of Global Fortune 500 companies such as Unilever, Heinz, Kraft, P&G, Gulf Food Industries, Nestle, Mars are located in Jafza. These companies have together generated trade worth Dhs15.5bn in 2011.

Almost half of the UAE's food imports are re-exported to the GCC and other West Asian countries mainly to Iran and Iraq and African countries. 20% of the companies in the F&B sector in Jafza are from Europe and 14% from the Asia Pacific and 8% from Americas. Largest numbers of companies come from the GCC and the West Asian countries.

In 2012 regional break-up in new joiners in the F&B sector in Jafza show that 28% of the new companies came from Europe, 34% from the GCC 14% from America and 10% from Asia Pacific. The trend shows growing interest of Europe and Americas in the Middle East region and Jafza as the regional hub. Jafza expects significant growth in its F&B sector in 2013 and in coming years as a result of robust projected growth in the F&B sector in the region.