United Arab Emirates Opens Door to Scotch Beef

Quality Meat Scotland today (Wednesday, 16th May) welcomed news that a health certificate for exports of deboned, fresh beef has been obtained by the UK for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

While clarity is still being sought by QMS on the detail of some of the stipulations required to achieve certification, Laurent Vernet, QMS Head of Marketing, said the development presented an exciting potential opportunity for Scotch Beef exporters.

QMS works with its sister organisations elsewhere in the UK as well as the Scottish Government, other devolved governments and Defra to support the work of the UK Export Certification Partnership (UKECP).

UKECP is the body which provides a forum to establish export market priorities and negotiate export health certificates on behalf of the UK as well as assisting in the drafting of export health certificates.

“We are delighted with the news. The UAE offers exciting potential for Scotch Beef,” said Mr Vernet who attended last year’s Gulfood event in Dubai, one of the largest food and drink trade shows in the world.

This event was attended by almost 75,000 people from around 90 countries, all keen to learn more about the exciting trade opportunities in this part of the world.

The UAE has a population of around 8.3 million of whom a large proportion are expatriates, and the world’s highest net migration rate. The UAE is also one of the world’s fastest growing tourist destinations, with more than nine million visitors expected to travel to Dubai and other parts of the UAE this year, up 9% on last year.

“Dubai itself is now being promoted as the ‘highway to the world’ and positioned as an economic powerhouse alongside London, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo,” said Mr Vernet.

“Given the high demand for top quality food and the steak-eating culture, this market clearly offers exciting potential for our iconic Scotch Beef label with its world-leading quality assurance and global acclaim for taste."

The UK has an existing health certificate for the export of lamb to the UAE and while no Scotch Lamb is currently exported to this market, Mr Vernet predicts the opening of the market to Scotch Beef may well lead to increased interest in Scotch Lamb from the market.