Irish Food Board announces three-year business strategy for UAE at Gulfood

Launching Bord Bia’s (the Irish Food Board) new three-year business strategy for the Middle East market, Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue is in the United Arab Emirates, leading a delegation of 14 Irish dairy, meat, and prepared consumer food exporters on the trade mission to Dubai.

The key objective for the trade mission is to introduce Bord Bia’s three-year business strategy into both markets to help drive commercial opportunities for Irish dairy and PCF exporters in the Middle East, improve government-to-government engagement in UAE and KSA, and enhance the reputation of Ireland as a trusted supplier and trading partner for the highest quality, sustainably produced food and drink products.

Bord Bia’s new three-year strategy outlines a target of €380 million in Irish food and drink exports to the wider Middle East region by 2025, led by dairy and consumer foods. In this plan Ireland will target exports in excess of €100 million to Saudi Arabia and €85 million to the UAE by 2025.

Bord Bia has identified the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as priority markets in the region, accounting for a combined 50 percent of current Irish trade in the Gulf region. In 2021, exports to the Middle East were estimated at €311 million, dominated by dairy, and dairy ingredients (€272 million), followed by prepared consumer foods (PCF) at €21 million. Fat-filled milk powder (FFMP) and infant food are the largest categories within dairy while PCF is led by ice-cream, juices, and meal solutions across the Middle East.

According to a recent survey by Bord Bia, UAE consumers are leading the way globally in prioritising sustainability as a food and drink mandate. The Irish Food Board explored purchasing habits across 13 countries to better understand how different markets are responding to these changes. UAE consumers showed a growing interest in natural foods, backed by the understanding that natural produce is the healthier choice. 57 percent of the participants agreed that the naturalness of the product influences their grocery choices, the highest of all markets. UAE consumers are also increasingly aware of food quality and traceability, and as a result willing to pay a premium for food and beverage products that are quality assured, have high nutritional value and are natural. Nearly a third (29 percent) of UAE beef consumers are willing to pay a premium for quality assured beef, ahead of all other attributes. Additionally, a half of the UAE participants (47 percent) affirmed their interest in natural dairy products, and a remarkable 84 percent of UAE consumers confirmed making an effort to limit their consumption of artificial additives, significantly higher than the global average of 75 percent.

Ireland exports agri-food to over 180 countries worldwide, reaching €13.5 billion in 2021. The industry-led strategy for the growth of the agri-food sector, Food Vision 2030, provides an ambitious and clear roadmap for the development of the sector and its aim is to increase this value to €21 billion by 2030.