November 29, 2017

30/11/2017: IAOM Middle East and Africa: The fasting growing regions with exponential potential

by Tom Blacker, Milling and Grain

The International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) Middle East and Africa Event and Conference 2017 was again a successful conference and exhibition for all involved


The venue was again the Dubai World Trade Centre’s Sheikh Rashid Hall from Sunday 22 - Wednesday October 25, 2017. This was the 28th year of the exhibition and conference and the fourth time Dubai had hosted the event since 1992.
 


The Middle East and Africa combines some of the fastest growing regions for the food industry and is establishing itself more in alternative industries away from the dominant sectors of oil and gas.

IAOM MEA 2017 impressively showcased the event from the moment a delegate entered, it was clear that the growth of the exhibition booths and quantities had meant an enlarged space to 5000 metres squared floor space. The exhibition was directly next to the conference in the Sheikh Rashid Hall. Around 900 delegates attended with millers being around 40 percent of the total, which is a good balance according to Ali Habaj, Regional Director for IAOM MEA. Habaj also said this is the most diverse range of attendees for all of IAOM’s annual events and bodes well for the future of the international industry group.

Background
A week before this year’s events, a successful five-day training course for millers in Arabic was organised, which attracted a total 34 millers from: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The honoured guest of note at the 2017 Conference and Expo was Egypt’s Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, His Excellency Dr Ali Elsayed Ali Elmoelhy, who partook in the Wheat Imports: Middle East and Africa Regional Outlook panel discussion. Grains, pulses, rice and maize were amongst the most discussed materials for millers attending the events. The final session about Wheat Imports brought some interesting perspectives together.

Mandeep Singh Bindra, Head of Procurement – Grains at the IFFCO Group, United Arab Emirates, said that despite Dubai’s modern infrastructure and buildings, food habits amongst people here have not changed from simple tastes of previous generations, only that demand has intensified with population growth.

New developments and topics outside the industry, yet still disruptive to forward planning were on many minds. For example, the international easing of economic sanctions on Iran and Sudan. Also, political events such as Catalonia and Spain, Brexit and the European Union, North Korea, Donald Trump Trends from before were raised such as fortification in many more countries in the region. Within the industry, the record harvests from Russia were discussed especially closely in the sessions moderated by Dan Basse, President and Founder, AgResource Co., United States of America. Most were satisfied with the quality of the questions from the delegates to speakers to be a high standard.

Exhibition
Special products were being exhibited for the first time Stif exhibited the NovaPorte® product for dust proof inspection doors. Fawema introduced the innovation with a fine inner layer of the USA’s FDA-approved to all regulations of glue to seal 0.5kg to 5kg bags. The glue can be hermetically heat sealed, with the advantages of tamper-proof and dust-proof.

Depart were exhibiting independently this year, with Cengiz Tiryakioglu satisfied with the visitors. Henry Simon had both a roller mill and colour sorter machine Sangati Berga exhibited plastic sieve frames which are stackable to be totally flush, which improves food safety and prevention of dust.

I-Grain were proud to be introducing the Toxi-Scrub® which provides the efficient removal of mycotoxins and fumonisins from raw materials such as grains and nuts. Many exhibitors brought fully operational products to show to delegates, which allowed for the tactile hardware to be examined and inspected. A symbol of the strength of any exhibition is the technology and it can be reported that this year the technology was at a very high standard.

According to the pre-registered delegate list, the representation from countries around the world was formidable: One from Algeria, 10 from Australia, three from Austria, seven from Bahrain, 10 from Belgium, four from Brazil, five from Canada, one from China, one from Cyprus, 10 from Denmark, 26 from Egypt, one from Finland, 33 from France, 26 from Germany, one from Greece, one from Hong Kong, 16 from India, three from Iraq, 32, 65 from Iran, 32 from Italy, one from Japan, four from Jordan, one from Kazakhstan, 21 from Kenya, 23 from Lebanon, one from Lithuania, two from Luxembourg, one from Malawi, three from Morocco, 15 from The Netherlands, seven from Nigeria, 11 from Oman, three from Poland, three from Qatar, three from Russia, two from Rwanda, 28 from Saudi Arabia, one from Senegal, two from Singapore, 10 from South Africa, eight from Spain, 21 from Sudan, three from Sweden, 44 from Switzerland, 117 from Turkey, nine from Tanzania, three from Tunisia, four from Ukraine, one from Uganda, 88 from United Arab Emirates, 20 from United Kingdom, 22 from United States of America and five from Yemen. Plus, new for 2017, a day-only delegate allowed a lower cost, which was taken up with good effect.


Read the full report, HERE.
 

The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.


For additional daily news from milling around the world: global-milling.com

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