Food exports from Ireland to the Gulf States are dominated by infant formula sold by multinationals operating here. However, a number of Irish firms are now targeting the region and growing our presence there.

There was tangible evidence of this during the recent trade mission, when Kerry Group officially opened a new regional development and application centre in Dubai. Twenty-four staff will operate from the facility which allows customers to be shown the range of food ingredient and flavouring products available from Kerry Group. Interestingly, the centre will work very closely with Kerry’s massive innovation centre which is currently under construction at Naas in Co Kildare.

Gerry Behan, President of Kerry’s ingredients and flavours division, explained: “The Dubai centre will support our global customers who are expanding their footprint in the region, while bringing the benefits of our global technologies to local food and beverage producers.”

He confirmed that the company would be targeting acquisitions in the Gulf region in order to expand their sales and product capability.

Also ‘turning the sand’ during the trade mission was the Irish Dairy Board (IDB), announcing a high profile €20m investment in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As well as providing a route to market for milk protein concentrate (MPC) manufactured by Glanbia at Ballyraggett in Co Kilkenny, the base is likely to provide a platform for growing ingredient sales to a range of customers.

The UAE and Qatar are investing some of their massive oil and gas earnings in sectors such as tourism that they hope will sustain their economies long after the oil wells have run dry. Dubai is already the seventh most visited city in the world, with 11 million tourists. This creates a huge demand for fresh foods, including milk. As well as tourists, a high proportion of the two million residents in Dubai are expatriates, many with western tastes.

This is a major positive for Irish exporters, as is the highly developed retail format. The top five retailers have 22% of the market. A store that carries a selection of Irish food is Spinneys, which has an 8.5% market share and reported sales of $970m for 2012.

Irishwoman Collette Shannon, who works with Spinneys, explained that the company sources food from around the world. The company has buying offices in London, the US, Melbourne and South Africa. She pointed out that the company has just nine buyers for their 60 stores, so the pitch must be extremely organised. She also advised companies to undertake market research so that they bring something new to the retailer, filling a gap in the market.

One Irish firm with decades of experience of trading with the Gulf region is Ashbourne Meats, based in Roscrea, Co Tipperary. Established in 1985, the company is re-building its market share in the Gulf after being locked out for over a decade due to the BSE ban.

However, Peter McMahon of Ashbourne Meats told me during the trade mission that the company had continued to attend the biennial Gulfood trade show in order to maintain its contacts. Today, it has resumed business with customers for Halal slaughtered beef in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It faces strong competition from Brazil and Australia, who are powerhouses of the global industry and have had 10 years to establish strong positions.

One-third of Ashbourne’s business is in Halal product, something that will not suit all Irish beef exporters as it requires supervised slaughter at approved plants.

One area the company is targeting is high-end restaurants, especially those with European chefs who recognise what Irish beef has to offer. “Grass-fed natural beef is the message we need to constantly send, but grain-fed beef has got a strong reputation,” he said.

“There are health advantages to grass-fed beef, but it will take time to educate consumers,” he added.

As well as food, Irish agri services firms also have eyes on the region. Brian McArdle is an international sales representative with Dairymaster, covering the Middle East and North Africa region. The recent trade mission was the first visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia by this new recruit to the Co Kerry-based company. When we met in the hotel lobby in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he was already organising his visa for a swift return visit.

In the region, new dairy units tend to be in thousands of cows rather than hundreds. Dairymaster is already working on large potential orders in Pakistan and Iran. Brian McArdle said that there is a major opportunity in the region to promote Irish technology.

A number of other Irish food companies have their eyes on a share of the growing food market in the Gulf region. With regular flights from Dublin, access is not a problem. Exporters described the paperwork involved as onerous, but not impossible. “There are 17 documents associated with sending one particular product, but we have become quite used to that now and it is not a problem,” one exporter explained.

The task of researching the market and making the first exploratory moves will get easier from January next, when Bord Bia opens a sales office in Dubai. Onwards and upwards for Irish food exports to the Gulf!