The Gulfood Awards will honour the innovations taking place in the food and drink industry; pictured here are 2015’s winners, selected by an independent jury.
Gulfood 2016 is a strictly trade-only event for business and trade visitors. The show is open 11am-7pm from February 21-24 and 11am-5pm on February 25. Visitors can pre-register at www.gulfood.com to save AED 100 (US$ 27) on the AED 300 (US$ 81.70) on-site entry fee.
UAE coffee market set to grow by over 30%
The UAE’s coffee market is expected to grow by over 30% in the next four years as the country’s trading hub emerges as a key supply cog in the global coffee supply chain. With domestic demand continuing an upward surge with over 4,000 tea and coffee houses now operating in the country and 82% of the population saying they consume coffee each day, according to Zagat, the UAE is increasingly seen as both a growing consumer and re-export market for coffee beans and refined finished product.
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Euromonitor International says the country sits at the centre of a region which now accounts for 8%, or US $6.5 billion, of the $85 billion global consumer spend on coffee — and that this could increase by up to a third by 2030. In 2014, the UAE alone spent $121 million on coffee consumption.
Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice president, exhibitions & events management, Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), agreed as she is seeing huge space demand from suppliers, traders and roaster and finished product equipment manufacturers at Gulfood.
Of the 70 coffee producing countries worldwide, major exporters Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Columbia, Ethiopia, India and Mexico will all be present at Gulfood 2016. In addition to buyer delegations from the world’s two largest traditional importers — the United States and Japan — attending the show, Gulfood will welcome more than 200 specialist coffee manufacturing, trading, roasting and packaging companies from around the world. Coffee sector exhibitors range from the UAE’s Karam and other emerging markets players from the MENA region, South Asia and Africa, to household heavyweights Lavazza and Illycaffé (illy) from Italy.
Gulfood 2016 to offer a platform for 117 pavilions
Gulfood has topped its own record by confirming its largest country and pavilion line-up to date for the 2016 event. This year, the show will feature 117 pavilions — five more than last year — with first-time group participation from Russia, Costa Rica, Belarus, Mauritius and New Zealand, the Oceania nation returning after a six-year break.
“The sheer scale of the pavilions and their extensive membership lives up to our promise of delivering more taste, more trends and more trade,” said Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice president, exhibitions & events management, DWTC.
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