Gulfood 2024: around fifteen Catalan companies take part in the Middle East's leading international food fair

PRODECA, the promoter of Catalan food, is organising the joint participation of 15 Catalan food and drink companies at the international Gulfood fair, held from 19 to 23 February in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), to help promote the sector commercially abroad.

The Catalan exhibitors at Gulfood 2024 are: 

• AIGUA SANT ANIOL – Waters (Garrotxa)
• BALNES EUROPA – Coffees (Vallès Occidental)
• BONAREA – Food (Segarra)
• COMPASS – Drinks (Barcelonès)
• DIAT RADISSON – Speciality and dietetic products (Baix Llobregat)
• DR. GERARD – Pastry and desserts (La Selva)
• DULCILIGHT – Sweeteners (Tarragonès)
• EDMA FOODS – Food (Maresme)
• EL ABANICO HALAL – Halal cured meats (Garrotxa)
• GRUP PONS – Olive oil (Segrià)
• LA GRANJA – Bakery (Alt Penedès)
• AIGUA VILAJUÏGA (MCWORLD) - Waters (Alt Empordà)
• VDA PIFARRÉ (MCWORLD) – Confectionery (Urgell)
• CAFÈS AVANTI (MCWORLD) – Coffees (La Selva)
• MEL ALEMANY (RAMROS) – Honey (Noguera)

Dubai, the gateway to the strategic Middle East market

Gulfood is the world's largest annual exhibition of food and non-alcoholic drinks companies, turning Dubai into the hub of the sector's international trade for the event's five days. It is a strategic fair for food companies wanting to establish trade contacts in the Middle East, Asia and East Africa, bringing together more than 5,000 exhibitors from 125 countries across 120,000m² of exhibition space. 

Catalan companies have consolidated their presence at Gulfood in recent years, aware of the commercial opportunity the region represents, and the Middle East has become a strategic market for the agri-food sector. First, because Dubai and the United Arab Emirates have become, thanks to their strategic location and advanced logistics, the gateway to the Middle East market and the Indian subcontinent, and it is one of the region's main re-export hubs (re-exporting more than 30% of imported products to almost 140 markets worldwide).

Likewise, the Middle East market has a growing, dynamic population, both demographically and in food consumption: 600 million consumers and food and drink consumption up by more than 15% in the last year, thanks to consumption habits and spending on high-quality and speciality foods.

As a result, the value of Catalan agri-food exports to the Middle East has risen significantly through the growing penetration of products such as meat, fruit and vegetables, cereals, coffee, tea, spices, fish, pastry products and drinks. In the first 11 months of 2023 Catalonia had already exported more than €490 million to these markets. 

Evidence of the region's growing importance for the Catalan agri-food sector is the export trend over the last five years: since 2017 Catalan food and drink exports have risen 52% in value and 23% in volume. 

The trend should continue upwards in the coming years, since the UAE's food and drink sector will need to quadruple in size over the next five years to meet demand from hotel projects and retailers.