The Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) announced that the number of factories operating in the GCC food industries sector increased from 1606 in 2010 to 1965 in 2014, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2%. During the same period, investments jumped from 13688 million USD to 23757 million USD, a five-year CAGR of 14.8%, while the labour force increased from 159613 workers to 238825 workers, a CAGR of 10.6%. All of these figures were published in GOIC’s “GCC Food Industries’ Directory”.

GOIC Secretary General Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel stated that this sector represents approximately 12.1% of the total manufacturing industries, about 6.2% of the total investments and 15.6% of the total manufacturing labour force. He highlighted the importance of food industries in GCC countries in terms of achieving Gulf food security.

Mr. Al-Ageel explained that the GCC industrial directories complement the valuable series of publication issued by GOIC. In fact, the GCC Food Industries Directory is the second to be published after the GCC Petrochemical Industries Directory. In this regard, GOIC Secretary General said: “The food industries sector is one of the main pillars of a sturdy economy; it is an important sector that is based on agricultural activities and developing animal resources and fisheries. Thus, GOIC endeavoured to provide concerned parties with a variety of easily accessible data on these industries in a scientific fashion in accordance with international standards in the area of directories.”

Furthermore, Al-Ageel stressed GOIC’s key role in the areas of consulting services, researches and studies. He reiterated GOIC’s commitment to providing documented and updated outputs prepared by its experts based on its developed databases. He hoped this publication would become a reference material enriching the GCC economic library and helping decision makers, researchers, investors and all stakeholders in their efforts to develop the economy of the region.

According to ISIC, the food industries include several industrial activities as follows: processing and preserving of meat, processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs, processing and preserving of fruit and vegetables, manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats, manufacture of dairy products, manufacture of grain mill products, starches and starch products, manufacture of other food products, manufacture of bakery products, manufacture of sugar, manufacture of cocoa, chocolate and sugar confectionery, manufacture of macaroni, noodles, couscous and similar farinaceous products, manufacture of prepared meals and dishes, manufacture of other food products n.e.c, manufacture of prepared animal feeds, manufacture of soft drinks, production of mineral waters and other bottled waters and manufacture of tobacco products.

Since its very foundation, GOIC has always endeavoured to spread knowledge and provide data relating to the industrial sector. It targets the largest pool of stakeholders, policy makers, decision makers, investors and researchers in this area. GOIC’s objective is to make valuable data accessible to these parties in a variety of top-notch methods.

In this regard, a unique team of local, regional and international experts at GOIC put together a large number of specialised periodicals tackling issues related to different industrial sectors throughout GCC countries and Yemen. In addition to that, they prepare multi-client studies, periodicals, Gulf statistical profiles and various analytical and statistical books on key industrial sectors. In the near future, GOIC will publish several similar publications as reference materials for professionals in the area of economics in general, and the industrial sector in particular.

Number of food manufacturing factories in GCC countries according to industrial activity

Investments in GCC food industries according to industrial activity