Looking for Export Markets

Looking for Export Markets. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Oregon agriculture is looking east, way east, for a potentially lucrative new export market. With the bustling city of Dubai poised as an Arab version of Hong Kong, early overtures to the Gulf Cooperation Countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates show promise.

WELKER:  With the growth that we’ve all seen in Dubai, the hotel and tourism industry there is huge. Oregon has a lot of agricultural products that will fit into that food service model.

Trade Specialist Amanda Welker of the Oregon Department of Agriculture helped host a group of trade delegates from the Middle East region this summer and they were interested in several Oregon products such as fresh cherries, blueberries, pears, processed fruit and vegetable products and even seafood. Some early shipments are underway. It’s all part of a change in affluence among the region’s 40 million consumers.

WELKER:  There is absolutely a western taste. As we know, those countries are very affluent countries. A lot of the younger generation, they have studied in the United States, they are familiar, they like what they taste here. There’s a definite interest in western products.

It wasn’t that long ago that Dubai was just a sandy spot in the desert. Now it is one of the fastest growing business and trade hubs in the world. More importantly, about 60 percent of what goes into Dubai is re-exported to a much larger group of countries, much like Hong Kong. While trade ties to Asia have been long established for Oregon, this area of the Middle East is no sure thing, but worth a closer look. Welker says Dubai in the United Arab Emirates has the potential to be another Hong Kong, with all its trade activity.

WELKER: Dubai 20 years ago was just a desert. So it has really evolved and changed. We’re going to have to see. It’s new territory for everyone.
Welker hosted a trade delegation from this region of the Middle East this summer. The buyers were interested in many of Oregon’s fruit products in particular.

WELKER: They were not familiar with the Pacific Northwest at all. So they were curious coming here not knowing what to expect, but I think they were very pleasantly surprised.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.