Middle East

Vegetable chips continue to gain in popularity in the United Arab Emirates as an alternative to traditional potato chips, as they are made from ingredients such as kale, sweet potatoes, or beets. Vegetable chips also tend to be baked or dehydrated…

Snacks in the United Arab Emirates play a significant role in consumers’ lives. The motivation for purchasing snacks can be for various reasons, including an energy boost, hunger management, nutrient intake, mood enhancement, and social engagement.…

A greater focus on sustainability in the United Arab Emirates has reached alcoholic drinks. Consumer demand for sustainable spirits in particular, has been met by a new launch of award-winning and sustainable tequila brand Mijenta. Mijenta’s…

Like many snacks categories in the United Arab Emirates, sugar confectionery was negatively affected in 2020 by the emergence of the pandemic, whereby lockdown measures and the closure of schools resulted in a significant decline in sales. In the…

Retail demand for sweet biscuits, snack bars and fruit snacks recovered to pre-pandemic levels in the first half of 2023 in the United Arab Emirates. On the other hand, current value sales fully recovered the previous year, driven by rising unit…

The global economic situation in 2022 saw many investors flock to the United Arab Emirates, so that they could protect their businesses from volatile markets and rising inflation. Dubai’s investors now have better access to fine wine trading. For…

RTDs maintained total volume growth in 2022, with sales recovering to the pre-pandemic level in this year. Sales are projected to increase further as life in Hong Kong gradually returns to normal. On-trade volume sales increased in 2022, with outlets…

Iraq’s alcoholic drinks industry remains underdeveloped and in a rather chaotic state due to a complex matrix of supply-side challenges including rampant smuggling, widespread corruption, infrastructure issues and the routine counterfeiting of…

Alcoholic drinks in Israel in 2022 is characterised by large price increases. While prices in the local territory rise due to the increasing costs of living and inflation, locals are also increasingly interested in premium products, which causes…

Sales rose across alcoholic drinks in 2022 as demand rebounded during the post-pandemic era. However, the economic crisis continues to suppress demand and local players, especially wineries, are looking to export markets to generate revenues in…

In 2022, there was a huge rise in demand, which the FIFA World Cup generated in the country. With over three million football fans visiting in November and December, all alcoholic drinks benefited from a sudden surge in consumption. Qatar is a…

Heineken NV (GBO), which is represented by Tempo Beer Industries Ltd in Israel, was one of the players forced to increase its prices in 2022, starting in Q1 and with the announcement of further price hikes later in the year. The reason for this was…

There is a lack of innovation in cider/perry, thus suppressing potential growth in the category. For example, we are not seeing the same styles of numbers of product developments to stimulate consumer demand. Added to which, the consumer base of…

The cocktail trend which is helping to support spirits is also supporting RTDs. A strong trend seen during the pandemic era was that for at-home cocktail making. Many locals started buying the ingredients to make cocktails and would invite friends…

Spirits is also seeing some cross-category trends. Namely, the event of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated at-home alcohol consumption, pushing forward premium products during the era of the lockdowns. Indeed, the periods of home quarantine encouraged…

The event of the COVID-19 pandemic actually accelerated the demand for wine in Israel, pushing forward premium products during the era of the lockdowns. Indeed, the periods of home quarantine encouraged consumers to drink more wine at home, either…

Wine is not available in Saudi Arabia as alcoholic drinks are not permitted in the country under Islamic Law.

Cities are hubs for spending, with 80% of expenditure expected to be generated by urban areas in 2023. Spending growth in 2023 will, however, be sluggish, as cost of living challenges force consumers to be more conservative in their expenditure. Over…

The clean beauty trend has been taking over the beauty and personal care market in Saudi Arabia, just as it has done the world over. Consumers are increasingly seeking out cosmetics products that make use of all-natural ingredients, vegan formulas…

Hair care, which is one of the biggest beauty and personal care categories in terms of packaging unit volume sales in the United Arab Emirates, continued to see relatively dynamic growth in 2022. This benefited the usage of HDPE bottles, the main…