Audio: Workshops Promote U.S. Pork in Promising United Arab Emirates Market

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) conducted a series of workshops in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) designed to promote U.S. pork and encourage chefs to feature more pork dishes on the menus of their hotels and restaurants. Food retailers in the region were also invited to the workshops, where samples of sausages, salami, bacon and other U.S. pork products available in the UAE were shared and sampled.

Dan Halstrom, USMEF senior vice president for marketing, says the workshops were strategically held in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, two wealthy UAE cities with populations that include a large percentage of expatriates from around the world. Halstrom notes that the existing demographics – along with potential for growth in the region – make UAE a promising market for the U.S. pork industry. While the UAE imported only 200 metric tons of U.S. pork in the first 10 months of 2015, it was a 122 percent increase over the same period in 2014.

To supplement the tasting samples and menu ideas offered during the workshops, USMEF provided an overview of the U.S. pork industry, highlighting the latest production and handling techniques used by U.S. pork producers.

TRANSCRIPT:

Ralph Loos: The Middle East isn’t the first place most people think of when promoting U.S. pork, but the U.S. Meat Export Federation just completed very successful pork workshops in the United Arab Emirates. In this USMEF report, Dan Halstrom, senior VP for marketing, says the UAE’s restaurant and hospitality sectors are a great target for U.S. pork. He also sees great opportunities in supermarket meat cases across the region.

Dan Halstrom: It was the first event of its kind we’ve done on pork, but the reason we targeted there is the UAE is a country of about 9 million people, but it’s some of the wealthiest people in the world. And Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the two largest cities, each over 2 million people. When you consider the fact that the UAE domestic population only accounts for about 15 percent of the population, and the rest is expatriates from around the world, so these are very much pork eating demographics. So this is the reason we looked at it – that combined with the fact that it’s one of the highest GDPs, per capita GDPs, in the world, higher than the U.S., they very much can afford our product.

Ralph Loos: Many of the chefs who took part in the workshops noted that there is a high demand for pork products in the UAE, especially with the rising number of expatriates in the country. The quality and taste of the sampled items were well-received, they said, adding that additional workshops in the region would help further promote and expand the use of U.S. pork.

Dan Halstrom: The UAE is known for its foodservice business and that’s definitely an opportunity, but probably the real pork opportunity going forward is more so in the retail side, and it’s high-end retail – it’s processed meats, it’s salamis, it’s processed hams, things like this, bacon, very much was a hit in this workshop .

Ralph Loos: The USMEF workshops also featured a documentary highlighting production and handling techniques implemented by U.S. pork producers, and an educational presentation on the quality and versatility of U.S. pork. For more on this and other trade issues, please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Ralph Loos.