Dubai Exports is keen on exploring various key sectors and growing its business in partnership with Indian entrepreneurs. The vast range of manufacturing and production facilities in Dubai, coupled with excellent logistics infrastructure, forms a lucrative opportunity to expand and export from India, including Food and Beverage sourcing.
Speaking on the sidelines of the recently concluded Food & Grocery Forum India, Dr. Ashraf Mahate (Head Export Market Intelligence, Dubai Export Development Corp & Vice Chair Economic Policy Comm., Dubai Department of Economic Development), spoke about the advantages Dubai offers in terms of sourcing and re-exports from Dubai. He said that UAE is not only a tourist destination or oil producing country but also an important business destination for a host of other things, and offers a whole range of products which are non-oil. Dubai’s Food Processing sector is of tremendous importance.
Dubai is the 3rd largest export centre in the world and has many major trading partners which include India (36%), Switzerland (15%), Iran (4%), Saudi Arabia (4%), Turkey (3%), Singapore (3%) and others (36%).
As regards top export destinations of Dubai, as per 2011 ranking, Japan and India stand at number one and two while China stands at number 5. By 2030, Mahate expects India to be the number one export destination followed by Turkey, China and Japan. UAE has a significant Food and Beverage manufacturing sector which includes varieties of Fish & Prawns exports supported by a private fish farming industry in Dubai. Dubai is one of the biggest exporters of Fish & Prawns to USA. Other food items include Eggs (Wash, Cut & Pasteurized and supplied to various industries such as Bakeries), Meats (imports meat form various countries, does value addition in terms of processing and exports it).
Dubai also exports ready-to-eat Doughnuts to several countries including six containers daily to Saudi Arabia. Other products include Vegetable Oil exports and Pasta to all the segments covering from bulk to niche segments.
He added that Dubai has several support industries in the Food and Beverages sector which include Food Packaging and Food Marketing companies. He stressed on the emergence of Dubai as a trusted source in Halal Meat. They are not only targeting the 120 million Muslim population in India, but the whole Indian meat market.
The company’s strategy includes encouraging firms in India to source from India and also to encourage them to re-export from UAE. The strategy has 3 aspects: Creating Awareness, Conversion, and the Actual Implementation. Long-term strategies include creating the right infrastructure to facilitate trade.
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