Sohar Port and Freezone is participating in Gulfood 2018, which will begin on February 18 and will continue until February 22 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Gulfood is the region’s largest annual food, beverage, and hospitality exhibition and attracts food and beverage professionals from around the world.

“It is a great platform to promote services and facilities that we offer at the port’s agro cluster and to provide an opportunity to food manufacturers to consider the Sohar Freezone. We look forward to sharing knowledge and expertise with other attending members at Gulfood to highlight the wide array of downstream prospects for the industry at Sohar. It will also help raise awareness about the new cluster at the port and establish ourselves as the focal point of growth and development of the food and agriculture sector in the Sultanate, a key component of the economic diversification plans of the government,” Mark Geilenkirchen, Chief Executive Officer of Sohar Port and Freezone, said.

Sohar Port recently launched the Sohar agro cluster, a first-of-its-kind industrial cluster, with a dedicated agro bulk terminal and an adjoining agro cluster. The aim of the cluster was to promote value chain, food processing, and logistics support within the expanding multibillion-dollar regional food industry. The food cluster will consist of a flour mill, sugar refinery, and a grain silo complex, while more industries are being considered.

“Based on the current market conditions, we see the potential that the food sector holds and the benefits it can offer to manufacturers. The establishment of a new food cluster at the port has opened up significant opportunities to establish food processing and manufacturing businesses at the free zone. There are also a number of investment opportunities in areas such as cold storage, warehousing, and more along the supply chain,” Jamal Aziz, Chief Executive Officer of the Sohar Freezone, said.

“Further, a dedicated berth for food and agro imports and exports, together with other world-class facilities available at the port, our ideal location, and great potential to establish related businesses in the adjacent free zone will no doubt be an attractive proposition for potential investors at the expo,” Geilenkirchen added.

Launched in 1987, Gulfood marks its 23rd edition of the exhibition this year, keeping the concept of innovation at the core. The exhibition has developed over the years and, at present, promotes trade between more than 120 countries annually. The fully-booked event will be welcoming over 5,000 exhibitors, who will be showcasing their products across various sectors of the industry.