Food Products From Latin America And The Caribbean Accounted For 9% Of The GCC’s Total Agricultural Imports In 2016, New Report Finds

Food products from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) accounted for 9% of the GCC’s total agricultural imports in 2016, which amounted to $4.3 billion, a new report from the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry has revealed.

Entitled Breaking Barriers: Agricultural Trade Between the GCC and Latin America, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report commissioned by Dubai Chamber was released on the sidelines of the second Global Business Forum on Latin America, taking place in Dubai on February 27^th-28^th 2018, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The report identifies the UAE and Saudi Arabia as the top GCC trade destinations for LAC countries, which together account for at least 80% of the six main agricultural exports from the region. Roughly 40% of the total imports from LAC into the GCC comprised agricultural products, the study adds, revealing that Latin America accounts for almost half of all GCC meat imports, close to 30% of its imports of animal fodder and around a tenth of its cereals, fruit and nuts, oleaginous seeds and sugar imports.

“Latin American countries are an important source of food products for GCC countries,” said His Excellency Hamad Buamim, President and CEO of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, noting that there is plenty of scope to expand collaboration in this area as the GCC rolls out plans to improve its food security, while Latin American countries look to diversify their export markets.