USMEF: US beef has great potential in Middle East markets
USMEF distributed information, answered questions and met with buyers and traders interested in U.S. beef at this year's edition of Gulfood, the largest food trade show from the Middle East. The federation's efforts at the exhibition, which attracted more than 5,000 exhibitors and 100,000 visitors to Dubai, were funded by the USDA Market Access Program (MAP) and the Beef Checkoff Program.
USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom, who was on hand to help USMEF members promote US beef, said that "there was a good cross section of Middle East customers at this year’s show – from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, Kuwait and Egypt – but it’s also a global food show, with a lot of buyers from Central Asia and Southeast Asia."
Mr. Halstrom added that there was a significant interest for US beef from buyers from Saudi Arabia.
"We’ve recently started to see some larger volumes of U.S. beef go into Saudi Arabia, especially toward the end of 2017," Halstrom said. "Quite a few of the Saudi Arabian customers were at Gulfood and seemed excited about U.S. beef, so that was encouraging to see."
Furthermore, Mr. Halstrom noted that other countries showing great promise for U.S. beef include the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.
"We learned that a lot of the key trade is already ramping up, or planning on ramping up, for that event," Mr. Halstrom explained. "The number of hotel rooms in Qatar is expected to double just because of the World Cup, so there is definitely a foodservice opportunity there for U.S. beef. USMEF and our beef industry members and partners are certainly looking at this as a chance to reach more consumers and share information about U.S. beef with those who may not be familiar with the product’s quality and taste."
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