(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The international trade exhibition for food and drinks industry has got even bigger by about 22 per cent in international pavilions and 30 per cent in pre-registered visitors.
World’s best food products top catering companies and chefs thousands of food buyers and producers will gather in Abu Dhabi from November 24 to 26 at the fifth Sial Middle East.
This year the international trade exhibition for food and drinks industry has got even bigger by about 22 per cent in international pavilions and 30 per cent in pre-registered visitors.
“From 300 exhibitors and eight pavilions when we started five years ago we reached 1000 exhibitors and 27 pavilions” said Fadi Saad director of Sial Middle East.
As global interest in Abu Dhabi’s food exhibition grows so does the exhibition itself and not just in numbers.
The two main organisers Sial Middle East and the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) are hosting 500 food buyers from the region this year who have a total buying power of $107 million.
“We cannot reveal their names as they prefer to remain anonymous but they represent big supermarket chains hospitality industry and airline companies” said Mohammed Jalal Al Rayssi Director of Communications and Community Service at ADFCA.
“Buyers are one of our priority at Sial Middle East. In fact we researched on them for months before the exhibition then shortlisted and invited 500 buyers here” he added.
The organisers have also created an online platform to schedule meetings for buyers during the exhibition and there are already 12300 meetings requested.
Apart from the 500 hosted buyers Sial Middle East expects about 20000 food buyers at the event this year.
Trade aside Sial Middle East will also organise its now popular Emirates Culinary Guild which this November will showcase the cooking talents of 650 chefs.
New at the exhibition the Sial Innovation Area will feature the world’s most innovative food and beverage products including the winners of Sial Innovation Award in China Brazil Canada France and the Philippines.
The multibillion dollar in-flight catering sector will once again have its dedicated space at the exhibition this time re-branded as the On Board Catering where at least 50 regional airline caterers will meet with other food industry experts.
With Middle East’s aviation industry set to reach 400 million passengers by 2020 this is an important business opportunity for airline caterers food producers and traders to start partnerships.
silviakhaleejtimes.com