Malaysian Firms Rake In US$137.35 Million Sales At Gulfood 2016

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 (Bernama) -- The 65 Malaysian companies which participated at Gulfood 2016 from on Feb 21-25 raked in a total of US$137.35 million (RM556.42 million) in sales throughout the five-day trade show. The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) in a statement today said the event offered Malaysian companies a platform to showcase a wide variety of food and beverage (F&B) products such as confectioneries, food ingredients, sauces and pastes, ready-to-eat meals, frozen food items and palm oil products. "The outlook for Malaysia's participation in Gulfood remains bullish amid the low crude oil prices affecting the region," it said. It said Malaysian companies received 7,544 trade enquiries at the event from potential buyers ranging from food distributors to procurement centres in the United Arab Emirates, neighbouring Gulf countries, the Middle East, the Sub-Continent countries, Central Asia as well as Africa. According to regional financial advisory entity Alpen Capital, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region's packaged food market would continue to boom amid rising demand for healthy and international food from a growing base of expatriates as well as young consumers. It said Halal food imports into the region are expected to double from US$25.8 billion (US$1 = RM4.05) in 2010 to US$53.1 billion by 2020, registering a 7.5 per cent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR). Another similar entity, Al Masah Capital, has projected the GCC region's food service market to grow at a CAGR of 6.8 per cent to US$24.5 billion by 2018. --BERNAMA