Global Food Week in Abu Dhabi highlights UAE's growing appetite for dairy and local innovations

Abu Dhabi: Walk the aisles of Global Food Week in Abu Dhabi and one thing keeps coming up: dairy.

Cheese, butter and cultured products are drawing more attention than ever.

Gulf News spoke to a number of exhibitors, and most described the UAE less as an export target than as a market they have known for years. What they see now is a consumer who is more informed, more open to new tastes and willing to pay for quality.

A growing dairy market

The backdrop is a dairy market that is still growing.

The UAE dairy market is valued at about $2.53 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach $3.28 billion by 2031, according to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, growing at around 4.45 per cent a year between 2026 and 2031.

The firm links that growth to the country's diverse expatriate population and the National Food Security Strategy 2051, which encourages local production. Dubai accounts for roughly 40 per cent of the market, and yoghurt is expected to be among the faster-growing categories.

Milk is the biggest category, with about 40 per cent of the market, while cheese is the second largest, driven by the food service sector and growing consumer interest in artisanal varieties. Yoghurt is also growing, helped by health awareness, and the report points to rising demand for products adapted to the UAE's many expatriate communities.

Butter, and a cheese with a bite

Denmark's dairy industry is at the show on behalf of member companies that want to export. Lars Witt Jensen, Head of Export Marketing at Danish Dairy Board, said the UAE is not a new market for Danish companies.

Lurpak has been sold in the region for more than 50 years, and Puck is a familiar name too. The Danish butter's creamy, rounded taste is the reference point for many households in the UAE.

"Consumers know and recognise Danish dairy and see a quality they are ready to pay for."

That, Lars said, leaves room for premium products at higher prices. Asked what sets Danish dairy apart, he was modest.

"I don't know if it differs, but we have more than 100 years of tradition for consistent quality. Buy Lurpak and you get the same product you got a year ago."

He added that sustainability is on the agenda in the UAE, and that Danish producers want shoppers to know their products are made with respect for the environment.

A creamier labneh, made in Abu Dhabi

Turkish brand Pınar both brings products from Turkey and produces locally, with factories in Abu Dhabi and in Turkey. Özge Çakar Osken, Senior Brand Manager, said its labneh is the leading brand in the UAE and Kuwait.

Labneh is strained yoghurt, and it is eaten across the region, usually spread on bread with olive oil at breakfast. The Turkish style, she said, is creamier than the version many Arab households grow up with.

"We are more creamy, more mild. You can eat it easily from breakfast to dinner, like a snack."

Less sour and softer on the palate, it works as a dip, a sandwich spread or a snack. The company also makes cream cheese and cheddar with no vegetable oil and no preservatives, which Osken said sets it apart from competitors. For her, the show is a chance to be visible and to meet customers and consumers directly.

Indian butter, ghee and a vegetarian cheese

Amul has been in the UAE since 1975 and now sells more than 200 products here through several distributors. Gautam Bhatt, Country Manager said the range has moved far beyond dairy, to ice cream, chocolate, organic pulses and rice, honey, bakery items and frozen snacks such as fries.

"It is not a dairy company anymore. It's a food company."

Bhatt said Amul's cheese is made with plant-derived rennet and is sold as vegetarian cheese. Its ghee, the clarified butter with a warm, nutty aroma, is a staple in biryani and other rice dishes.

The UAE is often called a second home by Indians, he said, but Arab households also cook with butter, cheese and ghee, and the brand wants to reach all of them. He said Amul has absorbed higher freight costs to keep prices stable.

Salty, brined and made for breakfast

Hidmi was founded in Jerusalem in 1950 and makes Nabulsi cheese, Mughli cheese, labneh, jameed, shanklish, halloumi and feta.

Nabulsi is a brined white cheese, firm but soft, with a clean saltiness. It is the cheese traditionally used in knafeh and also served at breakfast with bread, olives and salads. Jameed is a hard, dried yoghurt with a sharp, salty tang, and it is the base of mansaf. Shanklish is an aged, crumbly cheese often coated in spices. Halloumi holds its shape on the grill.

The company said Nabulsi means cheese from Nablus, and therefore from Palestine.

"As Nabulsi cheese makers, this is also how we preserve a Palestinian heritage." Muneer Al Hidmi of Al Hidmi Chese said.

Hidmi said that heritage should travel beyond Palestine to Arab and non-Arab communities abroad. It also credits the many people behind each product.

It is very simple: it touches on the Palestinian breakfast culture, the manoushe, the salads.

"Our work depends on our dairy farmers, our farmers and our young people, men, girls and women. We bring them all together until every piece of cheese reaches the customer."

The company said it was glad to meet local customers and visitors of many nationalities and hopes to open up the market.

"We see demand and potential."

Italian Gate, an Abu Dhabi start-up founded about two years ago by a Rome-born restaurateur, imports premium and niche Italian food, and brought mozzarella and burrata from its cheese supplier Montrona to the show.

Business development manager Valeria Lepore said the cheeses are made by hand every night by a team of 75 people, not on an industrial line. Burrata, a soft mozzarella shell filled with cream, is the one visitors ask about most.

"I think UAE people love Italian food."

And from the UAE: camel milk goes global

The UAE also had its own dairy story. Al Ain Farms is working with partners in the UAE, Europe and China to take camel milk to new markets, including research with Khalifa University and manufacturing in Germany. Camel milk is lighter than cow's milk, slightly salty and less sweet, and visitors could try it as a camel milk matcha drink.

"We believe the potential in camel milk should not stay in the UAE. It should be global." Hassan Safi, Group CEO of Al Ain Farms said to Gulf News

Minister of State for Foreign Trade Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi pointed to the Camelait brand as an example of Emirati companies combining heritage with innovation.

"Camelait is a compelling example of how Emirati companies can combine authenticity with innovation, taking a product rooted in our heritage and building it into a brand with genuine global potential."

One market, many tables

The exhibitors come from very different places, but they describe the same thing: a UAE market that welcomes many cuisines at once, and that is now also sending its own products out.