U.S. Beef Promoted at Gulfood – the Middle East’s Largest Food Trade Show

U.S. beef attracted interest from a wide range of buyers at Gulfood 2018. The Gulf Region’s largest food trade show, held annually in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, attracted about 100,000 attendees from the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Participation in Gulfood by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), a contractor to the beef checkoff, was made possible through support from the Beef Checkoff Program and the USDA Market Access Program.

In the attached audio report, USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom discusses the Middle Eastern markets that hold strong potential for U.S. beef. This includes Qatar, where the foodservice industry is already gearing up to host the World Cup soccer tournament in 2022.

Halstrom also addresses efforts to rebuild demand in Saudi Arabia, which was a $30 million market for U.S. beef before closing in 2012 due to a BSE case. The market reopened in 2016 and has recently shown signs of renewed momentum.

TRANSCRIPT:

Joe Schuele: With the support of the Beef Checkoff Program and the USDA Market Access Program, the U.S. Meat Export Federation recently took part in Gulfood, the Middle East’s largest food trade show. USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom has more details in this USMEF report.

Dan Halstrom: Gulfood show in Dubai is one of the largest food shows in the world, with over 100,000 attendees. There’s a good cross-section, of course, of Middle East customers that come to this show. But it’s also a global food show. We’re seeing continued growth in some of the mainstay countries, all the way from Kuwait and Bahrain to the Emirates. And Qatar is another interesting one – Qatar will host the World Cup in 2022, so we’re starting to see some of the key trade there ramping up prior to that. The number of hotel rooms in Qatar is expected to double just for the World Cup, so this is definitely a foodservice opportunity for U.S. beef. USMEF participated in an event at the culinary salon, which is part of Gulfood. The new undersecretary of trade, Ted McKinney, was a guest chef for that event, so it was good to see Under Secretary McKinney get into the region at one of the largest food shows in the world.

Joe Schuele: Saudi Arabia opened to U.S. beef in 2016 after a four-year closure, and Halstrom sees signs of renewed momentum in the market.

Dan Halstrom: Saudi Arabia opened about a year and a half ago, but it’s only recently we started to see significant volumes of U.S. beef go into Saudi, so quite a few of the Saudi customers were at Gulfood, including Alfa, one of the largest foodservice companies, and several others, so it was encouraging to see that. One other significant event on the planning calendar is the USDA-FAS in Riyadh is planning a reintroduction of U.S. beef, so that will be exciting for the industry, as well.

Joe Schuele: For more one this issue, please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Joe Schuele.