The Italian Fruit And Vegetable Sector Eyeing Expansion In The MENA Region At Gulfood 2020

Leading Italian fruit and vegetable suppliers will be exhibiting at Gulfood 2020, thanks to an initiative led by CSO Italy, the Italian fruit and vegetable cooperative, and the European Union.

Italian companies including Mazzoni, Oranfrizer and Conserve Italia will showcase a range of products including fruit purees, oranges, lemons, mandarins as well as tomatoes. The latest statistics from CSO Italy have revealed Italian fruits and vegetables, namely kiwis, apples and oranges increased by 55% to 36.165 tonnes in 2018 from 23.31 tonnes in 2017.

Elisa Macchi from CSO Italy, said: “Thanks to its unique climate and environmental conditions, Italy is one of the leading fruits and vegetable producing countries in Europe, with nearly 10 million tonnes of fruit and 14 million tonnes of fresh vegetables produced in 2018.  Thanks to the quality, taste and unique aesthetics, Italy exports over AED20 million worth of fruit and vegetable around the world, a figure we are keen to increase with our continued expansion into the UAE.

“Gulfood represents the perfect platform for us to showcase to the region’s top F&B decision makers exactly what Italy has to offer and why demand for our produce continues to grow year-on-year.”

Mazzoni, a producer of semi-processed fruit purées used by pastry shops and ice cream parlours which uses the latest processing technology negating the need for artificial colourings and preservatives, will showcase a range of frozen flavoured purees, including mango, strawberry, peach, lime and mandarin.

The leader in the production and distribution of Sicilian citrus fruits and a pioneer of the fruit’s exports in many international countries, Oranfrizer, will highlight a range of fresh juice products, Nello Alba CEO for Oranfrizer highlighted the popularity of blood oranges in the region, she said:

‘As an economic hub for the Middle East region, Dubai is an important market for our company and as such we have been exporting blood oranges and mandarins to the UAE for the last 10 years. Oranges with blonde pulp dominate the market, however, the blood orange is growing in popularity and one of our overarching goals is to communicate the unique characteristics of the fruit to buyers and the media which include its exceptional in taste, aesthetically very distinctive, rich in vitamin C and anthocyanins, and is well known as the fruit of the Mediterranean diet, and a UNESCO heritage site.”

Conserve Italia, the long-standing Italian food company, will provide visitors to the stand with the opportunity to taste peeled plum tomatoes straight from the vine.

Sandra Sangiulo, Export Marketing Manager for Conserve Italia, said: “Cirio has been present in the Dubai market for several years focusing on the hotel, restaurant and café industry, as well as optimising retail channels. The Dubai market is accustomed to high-end Italian fashion and luxurious cars, however the understanding of quality Italian food products is not yet so deep rooted and we therefore see a gap in the market to educate both consumers and professional chefs on the superior quality Cirio offers.”

In addition to the attendance at Gulfood, CSO Italy will host a special evening for suppliers at DIFC’s Italian hotspot, Mercato.

A range of canapes boasting dressings by Oranfrizer, ragouts utilising tomatoes from Conserve Italia and ice creams, sorbets, cheesecakes and profiteroles using fresh fruit from Mazzoni, will all be on show.

Nicola Borgatti Export Manager for Mazzoni, added: “The Middle East is incredibly important to us from an expansion perspective with Dubai, and indeed Gulfood, providing the perfect platform to showcase our extensive product range to this market. With a growing trend in this region for natural and healthy products, we feel we are ideally positioned to match consumer demand with supply.”

Gulfood 2020 takes place at Dubai World Trade Centre, 16^th – 20^th February. The Conserve Italia stand can be found in Sheikh Saeed Hall 1, stand B23, while Oranfrizer will be in Sheikh Saeed Hall 1, stand B19 and Mazzoni can be found in Hall 6 Stand A6-10