DUBAI, Feb 20 (Bernama) — Malaysian companies are set to make their presence felt and in all likelihood clinch some business deals at “Gulfood 2008″ — Middle East’s largest specialised foodstuff, beverages and equipment exhibition.

Gulfood 2008 will be held from Feb 24 to 27 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Malaysian Trade Commissioner in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Noraslan Hadi Abdul Kadir, said the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) is bringing 47 companies supplying various food products and beverages to the show to enable them to penetrate the Gulf and neighbouring markets.

“This will be the largest ever contingent of Malaysian companies with a total floor space of 432 sq metres taken by MATRADE in Hall 6 of the exhibition centre,” he told Bernama.

The Dubai-based Noraslan Hadi said UAE is witnessing a major boom in the food services sector due to the growth in tourism and hotel industry.

“In retail value, the food service market is valued at US$5.52 billion (US$1=RM3.22).

“The food service sector is estimated to grow by on 11 percent annually on average over the next 5 years,” he said, adding that Dubai and Abu Dhabi account for 80 percent of the total food service market.

He said the Malaysian trade delegation is expected to meet potential agents or distributors from the region during the event.

Products from Malaysia at the show will include sauces, health food supplements, vegetable oil, snacks, dairy products, chocolates, energy drink, coffee and tea, ready-to-eat frozen foods, cocoa, confectionery items, biscuits, health food, fruit juices and packaging products.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) Regional Director for West Asia, Ahmad Zafri Zawawi, said this will be MPOC’s fourth participation in Gulfood, the first being in 2005.

Recalling MPOC’s experience in Gulfood, he said that year 2005 was all about putting up a stand and distributing brochures extolling the virtues of palm oil to visitors. MPOC has been introducing new elements along the way.

“And last year we did something different — we started cooking demonstrations, allowing Malaysian companies, among others, to, among others, promote their cooking oil in the process,” he said.

Ahmad Zafri said an accomplished Malaysian chef dishing out mouth-watering Malaysian dishes using healthy Malaysian palm oil proved to be a potent combination in making the MPOC booth a crowd-puller during Gulfood 2007.

“The response was tremendous. And we’re going to do more or less the same thing again this year,” he said, adding that MPOC would continue to disseminate information about the goodness of palm oil.

Ahmad Zafri said MPOC would also continue to promote and assist Malaysian companies wishing to supply palm oil to this region.

Organised since 1987, Gulfood is the region’s largest and most important industry event of the year and a strategic platform for buyers and sellers to conduct direct business face to face.

The exhibition is a showcase for manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers from around the world, representing all of the key sectors within the food and hospitality trade.

In 2007, Gulfood brought together 2,471 companies from 75 countries. It attracted 37,618 trade attendees from 140 countries. Gulfood 2008 is open to trade visitors only.

– BERNAMA

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 11:31 am and is filed under Palm Oil World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.