The UAE is seen as a key developing market for the industry and is set to import 2,000 tonnes of French cream in 2017.
China is the top importer with 15,000 tonnes annually and Saudi Arabia stands at 5,000 tonnes imported per year.
The news comes amid an increasing proliferation of French chefs operating in the country and a growing popularity of French cream in the service industry and retail outlets due to its undisputed taste and quality.
Centre National Interprofessionel de l’Economie Laitière (CNIEL) communication director Laurent Damiens said: “Most of the pastry chefs at the top hotels here in the UAE are from France and the French pastry style is becoming increasingly fashionable. That’s why we export more and more cream, because to do French pastry you need to have French cream. It’s a huge market in the UAE, not only in business to business, which takes up 75% of imports, but retail currently accounts for 25% and this is growing more and more as people are increasingly using cream in their recipes, not just for pastries, but in their general cooking.”
Damiens was speaking following a Cream of Europe event hosted by Sopexa Middle East at the St Regis Hotel, Dubai, featuring Nicolas Bacheyre, executive pastry chef, Un Dimanche à Paris, Ludovic Audaux, the executive pastry chef of the St Regis, Habtoor City, and Nawal Al Nuaimi, owner and chef of Paper Fig. Invited guests were given the opportunity to taste and create their very own pastries using French ingredients and techniques.
Bacheyre said: “Cream comes from the process of skimming milk and, like butter and flour, is an essential ingredient in desserts. We’ve seen an increasing number of vegetable creams on the market due to their lower price, however they may not be considered as substitute of French cream, which has no equivalent in term of taste and textures. In 17 years of working in the industry I have never used anything else.”
As part of the growing demand for experienced pastry chefs, Sopexa runs a series of French pastry training courses in the UAE and KSA, co-financed by the European Union, which are set to run through to 2018.
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