Hello all Considering the rather limited size of the Jordanian market for juice products, its domestic industry base is becoming more and more complicated. Originally we thought that entering into chilled JNSD was premature when the Pepsi/Almarai venture Teeba Investment started filling TROPICANA in PET a couple of years back, but it appears that the company is more than happy with sales development and the segment has since attracted another player – Saudi dairy Nadec, … Read More
Beverage Taxation?!
Hello all A quick word from me on press reports last week that threatened the imposition of punitive taxes on ‘selected’ soft drinks and cigarettes sold in the GCC. Do have a brief look at http://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/soft-drinks-may-become-costlier-by-50-2012-05-08-1.457717 so you know what I’m on about. My own thoughts on this? Frankly, a little sensationalist and contrary to any other governmental discussion on the beverage subject recently. While health ministers may well be clamoring for the imposition of taxes on … Read More
New Exporting Laws Threaten Beverage Industry Development
Dear all, Previous blogs have already dealt with government interference that has significant repercussions on the beverage and dairy business. Well, we’ve just had news of another one. The UAE Minister of Environment and Water announced in March that all bottled water made from groundwater will face an export ban – to any country – from September 2012. This follows news from Saudi Arabia who already banned water exports – of any kind, not just … Read More
Bahrain- A Cause for Concern?
Bahrain has been in the news for all the wrong reasons over the past year. As if food and beverage suppliers in the region did not have enough to contend with, pure politics have added pressure on manufacturers and distributors alike. On our consultant’s return from Bahrain I wanted to provide our view on market development following last year’s protests. The most significant problem of course is a significant drop in domestic population, with a … Read More
Gulfood: A positive start to 2012
So, another Gulfood trade fair is behind us. Just like last year it was bigger, better and busier than ever. It was heartening to see that the political troubles in 2011 and so far in 2012 do not seem to have deterred companies from doing business in the region. The division of general food, ingredients and processing equipment worked for me – it did allow for a more logical and structured way of visiting the … Read More