Austrade ‘lounge’ helps bring in F&B orders at Gulfood 2023

The world’s largest food and beverage (F&B) trade show known as Gulfood took place in Dubai, UAE from 19–23rd February. It brought together over 5,000 leading F&B companies. Over 120 Australian companies took part.

Follow-on orders indicate growing prospects for Australian food producers in the Gulf region. One upcoming opportunity to showcase Australian produce is the Saudi Food Show. This takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 20–22 June.

Austrade will host an Australia Lounge at the Saudi Food Show, in partnership with Australian state and industry associations. Our ‘Australia Lounge’ at the Saudi Food Show will give exporters an opportunity to connect them with existing partners, buyers and decision makers who attend the show.

Participation options for Australian companies

Australian companies have participated at Gulfood since its inception in 1987. This year saw 123 Australian companies take part. Sectors included meat, dairy, horticulture and packaged goods.

Participation took multiple forms: via the Austrade-run ‘Australia Lounge’; on state and industry pavilions; and as independent exhibitors.

Agrifood attendees included the Almond Board of Australia, AUSVEG, Australian Food and Pharmaceutical Industries, Avocados Australia, Global Victoria, the Government of Western Australia, GrainCorp, Hunt and Brew, Investment New South Wales, Meat & Livestock Australia, Mission Foods and Pepe Saya.

The Australia Lounge

The Australia Lounge served as a hub for 16 Austrade ‘meet-the-buyer’ programs. This will be recreated for the Saudi Food Show in June.

In Dubai, Austrade designated just over 100 companies as 'friends of the lounge'. This enabled companies to use the Austrade space to host meetings, participate in exclusive B2B sessions, and showcase their products to potential customers and partners.

Austrade’s ‘meet-the-buyer’ program

Austrade facilitated more than 200 meetings in 8 markets during the Gulfood event. This included meetings scheduled as part of the ‘meet-the-buyer’ program as well as onsite matching conducted at the Australia Lounge and partner pavilions.

Austrade and its partners organised 12 activities throughout the week. These included a networking reception, retail tours to leading supermarket chains, site tours to distributors, sessions on regulations and labelling, and a trade agreement briefing.

Watch the event highlights (YouTube, 1 minute, 34 seconds)

Key Wins

Many participants scored major wins following the Dubai event. These wins included initial orders received by Australian Global Exports, Endeavour Meats, avocado producer Avolution, Moffat Fresh and Stanbroke Beef.

More information

The Saudi Food Show will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 20–22 June 2023. The event is organised by the same team behind Gulfood.

Austrade will host an Australia Lounge to showcase foods and beverages, in partnership with Australian state and industry associations.