In the first six months of 2018, Italy witnessed a 4% growth in food exports to Qatar. Moreover, according to Italian ambassador Pasquale Salzano, Italy is expected to further boost its food exports by 2019. Food is among the major sectors that witnessed growth in the first half of the year in Qatar, including machinery, fashion, and furniture. These figures contributed to the growth of Qatar-Italy trade exchange, which stood at 1.4 billion euros from January to June 2018. Comparatively, according to Gulf Times total trade volume between the two countries stood at roughly 2 billion last year.
ITALIAN FOOD ‘TRAVELING’ TO QATAR
In July this year, a high-level delegation led by Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti president Roberto Moncalvo and Filiera Agricola Italiana president Ettore Prandini were in Qatar for a series of meetings, which were organised with the support of the Italian embassy in Qatar and the local office of the Italian Trade Agency “to offer Doha a very significant support in Italian food chain distribution”. The visit will help in the increase of Italian food exports to Qatar by next year. The Italian delegation, which also included main players of the Italian agricultural production and network, met with the then Minister of Municipality and Environment HE Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi, Qatar Chamber board member Mohamed bin Ahmed al-Obaidly and officials of Baladna and LuLu Group Qatar.
A FOOD FACILITY AT HAMAD PORT
“We are currently coordinating with Coldiretti, because food safety is one of the main issues Qatar is focusing on. Aside from Italian food protection, we are also working on other major sectors, such as the agri-food industry, hence we are going to have Italian companies investing in Qatar in food and water security,” Salzano emphasised. Italy is participating in the construction of a food storage and processing facility at Hamad Port, which is capable of supplying stockpile for three main commodities – rice, sugar, and edible oils, for 3 million people for two-and-a-half years.