Jafza records 24% growth in food & agricultural trade

Jebel Ali Free Zone, Jafza, has recorded a total trade growth of 24 percent and an increase of 7 percent in its customer base year-on-year in 2019, reinforcing its status as a preferred destination for businesses related to food and agricultural commodities.

The Free Zone has a dedicated food and agriculture cluster of 1.57 million square metres with over 550 companies from more than 70 countries, employing over 6,000 people. Thirty-eight percent of these companies are from the Middle East, 23 percent from Asia, 19 percent from Europe, 10 percent from Africa, 8 percent from North America, 1 percent from South America and 1 percent from Oceania.

Commenting on the financial results, Mohammed Al Muallem, CEO and Managing Director of DP World, UAE Region and CEO of Jafza, said, "We have explored ways to further facilitate food trade and distribution while maintaining the continuity of food supply, which is crucial to the UAE and the region. Our mandate is to prioritise the needs of citizens and residents, and we have worked towards sustainability, ensuring sufficient food is available. We have ensured business continuity and a prompt recovery for the post COVID-19 economy.

Illustrating Dubai's role as a major gateway for global trade, he said, the emirate’s external food trade volumes in the first half of this year reached nine million tonnes, representing AED32 billion in total, whereas Dubai’s food imports touched AED22 billion. "In line with the newly launched UAE Sustainable Agriculture System, we aim to support the increase of self-sufficiency from agricultural production and workforce in the agricultural sector."

DP World, UAE Region’s multimodal connectivity reinforces Dubai’s long-term commitment to maintain the growth and development of regional trade. Thanks to Jafza's strategic location near Jebel Ali Port, it offers connectivity to over 3.5 billion consumers.

To make it easier for investors and business owners in times of the pandemic, smart services from Dubai Trade include the "E-Delivery Order" to allow supply chain stakeholders to handle their complex import processes and ZADI, an innovative unified food import platform aimed at facilitating the import and re-export of food shipments throughout Dubai ports. All these services are accessible online to minimise the need for manual transactions and personal visits.

With Jafza, food and agricultural businesses can benefit from advanced packaging solutions, and avail pre-built warehouses for high quality storage. It has also introduced a Halal Incubation Centre to encourage traders to launch their halal business in Dubai and accelerate their end-to-end halal food supply chain.

Jafza have made it the preferred destination for many countries globally -- including Brazil, the USA, Pakistan, Netherlands and South Africa, importing sugar, meat, cocoa, and dairy products. Meanwhile, Iraq, India and Saudi Arabia are among the top export destinations, exporting coffee, tea, fruits, spices and dairy products.