Gulfood is quite an event. Now in its 10th year, this food, beverage, hotel and catering extravaganza fills 8 halls in the Dubai World Trade Centre. Tucked in between the gleaming towers on Sheikh Zayed Road, Gulfood 2005 showcased 2,000 exhibitors from 53 countries with 36 national pavilions. By the time it was all over more than 23,000 trade visitors from 126 countries had been scanned across the electronic threshold.
With strong economies, high oil prices and booming real state markets, Dubai puts food manufacturers right at the heart of the Middle Eastern consumer market. If you want to be on the menu, Gulfood is clearly the place to bring your wares.
Halal products, while very much in evidence, are not promoted in the Arab world with the same enthusiasm as in south East Asia, or even Europe. There is an assumption of Halal, rather than a declaration, and the Halal logos, with one or two exceptions, tended to be discrete, rather than obvious, and basically limited to meat products.
However, one thing was very clear. All the major meat producing countries are keen to supply Halal meat products to the Muslim world. Product quality is high, and competition is strong. Branding and marketing skills are going to plan an increasingly important role in this multi-billion dollar market, and those producers – many of them are non-Muslim countries – with an informed understanding of Halal are going to develop a clear competitive edge.
It was also refreshing to see Muslim-owned companies from the USA, such as Midamar, one of the pioneer Halal meat producers with a 30-year history of supplying American Muslims with quality Halal food.
But the GCC is no longer just an import market; manufacturing and export are now well established by local companies. At Gulfood there was an increasingly strong presentation from Arab companies, such as the 100 year-old Aujan Industries from Saudi Arabia, the Dubai-based Al-Ghurair group, and Coop Islami, with their ‘real Halal’ branding.
And branding and innovation were also on the menu just down the road at the Dusit Dubai, at the 3rd Middle Eastern Food Marketing Forum, held in conjunction with Gulfood 2005. organised by IIR Middle East, the event was chaired by Brian Urbick, Director of Research from the UK Consumer Knowledge Centre. In addition to three days of high level presentations, there was a stimulating degree of audience interaction, helped by Urbick’s relaxed profession manner.
The Halal Journal’s Abdalhamid Evans gave an hour presentation on Halal Perspectives – Understanding the Muslim Customer, which was particularly well-received. As one participant from a major Saudi Arabian food corporation commented afterwards,
“It was simply fascinating. I have never heard the concept of Halal and Tayyib put together in such a dynamic, market-oriented way, it was really valuable.”
**This article was first published in The Halal Journal Mar/Apr 2005 edition.