Dubai, United Arab Emirates-: Middle East Organic and Natural Products Expo Dubai, the only focused expo in the Middle East and North Africa for Food & Beverage, Beauty, Health, Living and Environment sectors is held at Dubai World Trade Center from 15th-17th December 2020. The expo was inaugurated this morning at 10AM. The event has served as a platform for organic products to get launched into the Middle Eastern market for 18 years now, with the support of IFOAM Organics International.
The expo showcases exhibitors from across 10 countries, featuring the debuting country, Israel, followed by other top organic producing countries like the US, Russia, Croatia, Macedonia etc. Held under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, the expo also features the Farmers Souq – an initiative to support local organic farms. As a reflection of the latest market trends, the range of products on display include disinfecting and sanitization products, organic dates, vegan products, clean beauty skincare and edible dietary strips.
Keeping up with the demand for wellbeing, the annual Traditional Complementary Alternative Medicine (TCAM) conference is held during the expo’s first day, with a primary focus on Gut Health. The chief guest, HE Dr Amin Hussain Al Amiri, Asst. Undersecretary for Public Health Policy and Licensing, Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) UAE, inaugurated the TCAM conference with an opening speech where he mentioned, “This is one of the few in-person events that I have attended in 2020, the year that has changed the world in many ways. The conference has boldly presented the scientific and positive message of healthy living through this event.”
As a major sponsor of the event, the European Union under its ‘Enjoy it’s from Europe’ campaign, is promoting food and drink products that Europe has to offer.
New to this year are the live experiences, Organic Live Super Kitchen where talented chefs
demonstrate healthy recipes using exhibitor products, Organic Beauty Corner where one can learn about the goodness of clean beauty products through topical treatments, and finally Happiness Yoga, sessions focusing on the elimination of stress from daily life.
The organizers have been focusing on building various opportunities for their exhibitors prior to the expo this year, both, online and offline. The launch of Digital Trade Week platform in May earlier this year connected over 40,000 buyers and suppliers through online initiatives. This had also resulted in 4356 product-specific enquiries and 2228 request for quotes to the participating exhibitors.
“We have witnessed over 120% increase in online transactions on arabianorganics.com – Middle East’s #1 wholesale e-commerce portal from March until now,” said Shinu Pillai, Exhibition Director. Mr Pillai further mentioned, “It has been an exceptional year for us in many ways, the pandemic indeed challenged us but we are delighted to be one among the handful in-person events not just in the Middle East but around the world. The organic industry has seen major growth during the pandemic, thanks to the shift in consumer demand towards a healthy life and we are here to support and facilitate this growth.”
The Organic and Natural Products Expo will run from 15th – 17th December 2020 from 10 am to 6 pm. Entry is free and visitors may pre-register at https://organicandnatural.com/register/