The Middle East's first trade exhibition dedicated to raw materials and ingredients has generated a strong response from the region's fast-evolving manufacturing and processing industry, with particular interest from groups specializing in halal food, beverages and health food. The UAE's food processing industry was valued at $3 billion in 2007 and is growing at 11 percent a year. With a population of around 4.1 million and an anticipated population growth rate of approximately 6.9 percent per annum, the UAE is one of the fastest-expanding markets in the world. “With such strong international interest, it is evident that ‘Ingredients Middle East' is meeting the needs of a key market sector, whose importance is only going to increase with time. With a fast-growing regional food and beverage industry - including rapidly developing specialist markets like halal food and health food - governments and businesses are paying increasing attention to selecting the right partner to supply ingredients and raw materials,” said Joanne Cook, industry group manager, Dubai World Trade Center. Given the strong potential for business development, Ingredients Middle East has drawn interest from manufacturers, distributors and international suppliers who cultivate, extract, process or supply raw materials and ingredients. Ingredients Middle East, organized by Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC), will take place on June 15-17, 2008 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center (DICEC) and has already attracted some of the world's leading ingredient producers. As the organizer of Gulfood, the region's largest food and beverage event, Ingredients Middle East will support the Government's recent drive to support domestic food production, to reduce reliance on imports and better control prices, and the result has been a rapidly-growing local manufacturing sector. China, Egypt, Germany and Turkey are among the 17 countries that will be present this year as well as India, one of the world's largest markets for raw materials in food processing which has recently announced plans to invest $25 million in the sector by 2015. The event will welcome almost 100 exhibitors. Key suppliers include market leaders Doehler Middle East Ltd; CHR Hansen Middle East Fzco; Transveritas; Agus SP ZOO; Reda Food Ingredients; Food Specialties; Maskem; Dairy Tech; Agrana Fruit Istanbul and many others. Co-located with Ingredients Middle East will be the specialist conference the “Arab Beverages Forum 2008”, taking place on the 15 and 16 June. The conference will detail the current global situation and how it impacts the local beverage market. Key topic areas include flavoring and packaging, as well as strategies to develop and position products to capture new markets. Delegates interested in attending the forum can visit www.taaheel.ae for more information. __
