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Mark your diary for the industry
event of the year!

For four exciting days in February 2009, more than 40,000 visitors and over 3,300 companies from ‎‎72 countries will occupy Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre and the new ‎additional space at Dubai Airport Expo for the biggest industry event in the region.‎

Get ready for the must-attend event of 2009 showcasing everything from fresh to frozen food, ‎processed food, dairy products, halal meat, snack food, beverage as well as hospitality equipment, ‎food processing, packaging machinery and much more.‎

A bigger international food, drink and equipment presence than ever!‎

• The largest display of the latest catering equipment
• Restaurant & Café Middle East exhibition held alongside Gulfood‎
• More educational features
• Dedicated cooking demonstrations from top chefs
• More product launches and displays‎
• Co-location of Ingredients Middle East at Airport Expo Dubai

Gulfood 2009 will be where the whole industry comes together.‎

You simply can’t afford to miss it! Start planning your trip now to secure your hotel bookings!‎

Please click here for more information on hotel lists and rates or to reserve your accommodation.

Additional Space!‎
Additional space will be available at Gulfood 2009, to form one of the world’s top trade platforms for ‎the industry. The event will now occupy 80,000sqm – making it the fastest growing exhibition of its ‎kind. Click here to read more about the ‎venue

Co-Location of Ingredients Middle East!‎
Ingredients Middle East, the event for suppliers of raw material and ingredients for food & ‎beverages co-locates with Gulfood and Restaurant & Café to deliver a unique global offering. Click here to read more‎

Educating the Industry – Get the knowledge!‎
Emirates International Salon Culinaire Over 1,000 young chefs competing for top honours at ‎the Emirates Salon Culinaire Chefs’ competition. Don’t miss out on the display of a wide range of ‎skills and techniques for international cooking. Click here for more ‎information‎

‎4th Dubai International Food Safety Conference – Organised by Dubai Municipality‎ Join over 912 delegates at this highly reputed conference held alongside Gulfood 2009. Click here to find out more about the programmes, speakers and how to pre-‎register. ‎

Beverage Opportunity Workshops - Organised by Zenith International‎
Get the market and industry updates and discuss issues that are critical to the beverage sector in ‎the region. Click here to find ‎out more about the programmes, speakers and how to pre-register.‎

Leading Saudi Arabian retailer Géant Saudi has announced that it has opened an outlet in Jeddah under its new 'compact hypermarket' format, as it experiments with new store concepts. The store features 3,000m2 of space and 10 fast track checkout counters and is the second store opened under this format after the first store was recently launched in Jeddah. Despite a wave of expansions from its competitors, Géant has remained a leading hypermarket operator in the country by pursuing a steady stream of expansions

International retail giant Carrefour will be opening its second hypermarket in Oman in October in the Qurum City Centre shopping mall, which is a Majid Al Futtaim Investments (MAF) project, and will feature over 75 retail outlets. Given the small size of the country and the limited number of mass grocery retail (MGR) outlets in the country, the opening of just one hypermarket has a major impact on the local retail sector

Bahrain-based firm International Investment Bank (IIB) has announced its acquisition of a 14.29% stake in sugar refinery that will be established in the Hidd industrial area, marking its first entry into the food and drink sector. The estimated cost of the refinery is US$157mn and will be the first of its kind in the country and the third within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. With an annual production capacity of 585,000 tonnes of white sugar annually, it is expected to be in operation within two years. Production will be exported throughout the Middle East, a region with a considerable

Singapore-based agricultural products and food ingredients company Olam International has announced its planned US$128.4mn investment into Nigeria's agricultural sector, investing in sugar-refining and wheat-milling facilities. Olam will hold a 49% stake in two joint ventures (JV), with Lagos-based Modandola Group (MG) as it looks to increase its presence in Africa's biggest market.

Kuwaiti retailer The Sultan Center (TSC) has announced its plans to expand its presence in the Lebanese mass grocery retail (MGR) sector following its earlier acquisition of two local retailers. TSC currently runs a network of 53 stores and is looking to double this number over the next three to five years. Despite the high levels of political risk in Lebanon, TSC is drawn to the country for its strong long-term growth potential, which it will be in a strong position to exploit.

The government of Malawi is looking to increase investment in its dairy sector, as it continues to look for ways to upgrade the country's agricultural sector. According to the country's Ministry of Agriculture, Malawi currently has the lowest milk production and per capita consumption in the region, standing at just five litres per capita per annum. For years the sector received little investment due to low prices for domestic commodities. Currently around 50% of dairy products consumed in the country are imported due to quality issues with domestic producers, which the government is hoping to address by attracting investors.

South African retailer Shoprite has revealed more details of its planed expansions in the Nigerian mass grocery retail (MGR) market. The company has said that it will spend ZAR400mn (US$50.3mn) on its international expansion plans, and according to CEO Whitey Basson, Shoprite plans on opening 50 new stores in Nigeria by 2013, having already identified 16 possible expansion sites in the country. Shoprite has also said that it is considering establishing a separate property investment firm that would build and manage its retail sites in Nigeria as well as in other African countries.

For more information please visit http://www.gulfood.com/