The Middle East’s first trade exhibition dedicated to raw materials and ingredients has generated a strong response from the region’s fast-evolving manufacturing and processing industry.

Ingredients Middle East, organised by Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC),
has also received overwhelming response from groups specialising in Halal food, beverages and health food, said the organisers.

The event will run from June 15 to 17 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre with some of the world’s leading ingredient producers showcasing their products.

As the organiser of Gulfood, Ingredients Middle East will support the government’s recent drive to support domestic food production, to reduce reliance on imports and better control prices, and the result has been a rapidly-growing local manufacturing sector.

The UAE’s food processing industry, which was valued at $3 billion in 2007, is growing at 11 per cent per year.

With a population of around 4.1 million and an anticipated population growth rate of approximately 6.9 per cent per annum, the UAE is one of the fastest-expanding markets in the world, according to experts.  

“With such strong international interest, it is evident that Ingredients Middle East is meeting the needs of a key market sector, whose importance is only going to increase with time," said Joanne Cook, industry group manager, DWTC.

"With a fast-growing regional food and beverage industry – including rapidly developing specialist markets like Halal food and health food – governments and businesses are paying increasing attention to selecting the right partner to supply ingredients and raw materials," he added.

Given the strong potential for business development, Ingredients Middle East has drawn interest from manufacturers, distributors and international suppliers who cultivate, extract, process or supply raw materials and ingredients. 

The event will welcome almost 100 exhibitors. Key suppliers include market leaders Doehler Middle East; CHR Hansen Middle East Fzco; Transveritas; Agus SP ZOO; Reda Food Ingredients; Food Specialties; Maskem; Dairy Tech; Agrana Fruit Istanbul and many others.

China, Egypt, Germany and Turkey are among the 17 countries that will be present this year as well as India, one of the world’s largest markets for raw materials in food processing which has recently announced plans to invest $25 million in the sector by 2015.

Co-located with Ingredients Middle East will be the specialist conference the “Arab Beverages Forum 2008”, taking place on June 15 and 16. The conference will detail the current global situation and how it impacts the local beverage market.

Key topic areas include flavoring and packaging, as well as strategies to develop and position products to capture new markets.-TradeArabia News Service