Gulfood 2016 to usher in tastier trends

Sunaina Rana / Emirates Business

Gulfood, one of the world’s leading food trading platforms, would be marking its 21st edition at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) on Sunday. The show would begin with top notch food exhibitors delivering the latest trends of food and offering new prospects to add more into the food trade in this region.
Around 5,000-plus corporates will occupy in excess of 1.29 million square-feet of exhibition arena.
“The upsurge of Gulfood around the globe has been an impact of the Dubai’s global standing as an import and re-export hub. The Emirate is developing
sea-air transport links, expanding its geographic trading footprint and the strategic importance is placed on the
domestic and regional tourism and hospitality industries,” said Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice President, Exhibitions & Events Management, DWTC.
This edition would also be showcasing the third edition of the Halal World food, which is world’s biggest annual Halal food sourcing trade event. Also, the exhibitors participating at the event would include finished food producers, bulk commodity wholesalers, distributors and exporters, and the show’s largest-ever collection of hospitality equipment suppliers.
The record response to Gulfood mirrors the extensive investment in the hotel and hospitality industries that is driving regional economic expansion. With the development in the food and beverage (F&B) industry in the Emirates, it is expected that the number of F&B outlets would double by 2020.
Gulfood 2016 features a portfolio of new exhibitors, expanded participation by returnees and a wealth of new-to-market products.
“Gulfood is an amazing platform for the retail, food-service, catering and hospitality industries, and it offers an incredible sourcing opportunity, which highlights hundreds of new product launches, innovations in health and even wider range of ethnic and speciality foods,” added LohMirmand.
This event plays a vital role in global trading, which can be validated by the 117 national and food export industry groups who make an appearance at the event every year. This year the exhibition would be witnessing few first timers like Russia, Costa Rica, Belarus, Mauritius and New Zealand returning after a six-year break.
Talking about the food trading, LohMirmand said “For the wholesale, food import and export buyers, the multi-million dollar transactions made at Gulfood will set pricing benchmarks throughout 2016. This is why market-makers and the biggest traders from around the world attend Gulfood – it’s where the big deals are made, company to company and country to country.”