Jafza Sial participation seeks to attract more F&B companies into the Free Zone

Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), the flagship Free Zone of Dubai and the trade and logistics hub for the entire Middle East region comprising West Asia, the CIS and Africa, will be participating in Sial – Paris, one of the largest Food and Beverage (F&B) exhibitions in the world. The Free Zone seeks to attract more multinationals in the F&B sector into the Free Zone by highlighting huge growth opportunities in the rapidly expanding affluent markets in the Middle East region, which Jafza as a hub serves, at the event. 

Jafza will be showcasing its world-class offerings which include its recent initiative of building two Halal Zones, designed to serve local and regional markets, as well as, international Halal products market estimated at over USD 2 trillion. 

Middle East is the premier market for Halal products, currently valued at USD 300 billion. The Halal sector is of considerable importance for the UAE’s food and beverage business. 

Jafza plans to develop Halal Zones as all-inclusive hubs. Halal Zones will integrate a one-stop-shop system to serve each and every need of customers in the Halal Supply Chain, offering ease of business. 

Jafza is currently home to more than 700 leading multinationals in Food and Beverages and Healthcare sector, who have established their regional headquarters in the Free Zone to serve the entire Middle East region. The sector generated trade worth USD 7.5 billion in 2013.

The GCC countries in particular and Middle East in general rely heavily on imports for their food requirements. More than 90% of its total food requirement is met through imports. 

Strong GDP growth and increasing per capita income continues to drive the food consumption in the GCC countries. The region’s GDP is expected to reach USD 1.8 trillion by 2017. The per capita income in the region is likely to hit USD 36,839 by then. The GCC population is expected to expand from 41.7 million in 2010 to 49.9 million by 2017. 

High dependence on imports creates huge opportunities for global companies in the F&B sector in the region and to be in Jafza, the hub for the region. Jafza is part of Dubai based Economic Zones World.