Annual report to be presented at Gulfood will explore ways toturn the UAE into an ‘F&B manufacturing hub for the region’
Dubai The UAE’s Food and Beverage Manufacturing Business Group has announced that it is working on its ‘Annual UAE Food Industry Report’, which will be released in the upcoming Gulfood Manufacturing exhibition in November 2017.
Conducted in partnership with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Gulfood Manufacturing, the report seeks to catalyse the growth of the F&B manufacturing industry in the UAE.
The group aims to gather accurate data to better understand the needs and challenges of specific industries and to bring together industry leaders and decision makers to address them. Eventually, the findings will help develop more effective workforce development programmes, services, and policies that better prepare local and expatriate staffers within the sector.
Saleh Abdullah Lootah, chairman of F&B Business Group, said “We, at the Food and Beverage Manufacturing Business Group, have made it our mission to develop the F&B sector in the UAE, not only to place it on par with its international counterparts, but to also turn the Emirates into an F&B manufacturing hub for the entire region.
“By publishing the Annual UAE Food Industry Report, we will be playing our part in helping stakeholders and decision makers in the sector make sound decisions grounded in accurate, verifiable data. The study mines data from every source deemed relevant to the F&B manufacturing sector, organises it, and draws critical conclusions from it.”
Mark Napier, director of Gulfood Manufacturing, said “Gulfood Manufacturing applauds such initiatives that will further accelerate growth in the food manufacturing sector. This rich market insight will provide captains of industry and investors with the insight and analysis to guide and shape their investment in plant, process, and machinery.”
H.E. Lootah said, “The report allows stakeholders within the sector to look at the F&B industry from different perspectives, assessing the publicly available data, and employing it when exploring policy changes, progress in implementation strategies, and global supplychain dynamics. The report creates synergy among the various stakeholders within the sector, thereby adding value to the whole industry.”
The report’s content is extensive, covering several key aspects and realities of the F&B manufacturing sector. It covers such topics as food and beverage industry today and tomorrow (global, regional, and local overview), industry sector descriptions and food processing value chain, classification of the F&B industry into product categories, examples of success stories in local F&B manufacturing, opportunity assessment by F&B product category, and infrastructure and regulations.
The study goes on to gauge the current status of the food processing and manufacturing industry, looking into growth in population, tourism and hotels; contribution to the local economy and to GDP.
In the interest of full transparency, the gathered data will be made available on the dedicated Food Data Platform, created as part of the FLW Protocol implementation process in the UAE, heralded by the F&B Business Group itself. This will promote the Emirates as a regional hub for the food manufacturing and processing sector.