On January 26, the first FOODAGRO MEETUP — a professional business meeting for Ukrainian producers and international partners — took place in Dubai. The event was organized by the Ukrainian Export Alliance together with the Ukraine Pulse and Soybean Association (UPSA). The meeting brought together more than 150 participants from 25 countries.
According to UPSA President Antonina Skliarenko, choosing Dubai as the venue is part of a long-term strategy to expand Ukraine’s presence in international markets.
“The MENA market today is one of the most promising for Ukrainian agricultural products — particularly pulses, soybeans, grains, and processed goods. Countries in the region are increasing food imports and looking for reliable suppliers. FOODAGRO MEETUP is an opportunity for Ukrainian companies to work directly with buyers and strengthen their positions in the global food market,” she noted.
International partners also presented their perspectives during the event. Welcoming the participants, Khalid Sharaf, Director of Corporate Sales and Business Development at DMCC (UAE), stated:
“I would like to thank the organizers — the Ukrainian Export Alliance and the Ukrainian Pulse and Soybean Association — for bringing all of us together. Holding this meeting during Gulfood — the largest food and beverage exhibition in the region and possibly in the world — demonstrates how successfully Dubai connects people. Today, representatives of more than 200 nationalities live here, and our city has become a true global hub for commodity trade,” he said.
Bassel Bitar, DMCC Regional Representative for Asia and Eastern Europe, emphasized that Ukrainian businesses are already actively integrating into the center’s ecosystem.
“DMCC brings together more than 26,000 companies, and over 200 of them are Ukrainian. These include companies from the food industry. We do not follow a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach: solutions depend on the scale, sector, and needs of the business. A company can be registered and fully managed online, and the location next to the port and airport creates practical conditions for international trade,” he explained.
A separate focus of FOODAGRO MEETUP was market analytics. Gaurav Jain, CEO of AgPulse Analytica (Singapore), noted that for Ukraine this season the key challenge is sales rather than production.
“This year Ukraine harvested a record pea crop — about 675 thousand tons, while the total market supply reaches nearly 700 thousand tons. At the same time, Europe collected a strong domestic harvest, and for the first time in recent years its production exceeded consumption. Therefore, the issue of sales markets for Ukraine is currently open,” the analyst explained.
In his view, the Middle East and North Africa region remains one of the most stable global importers of pulses and is highly promising for Ukrainian producers.
“MENA is a very stable importer. Especially for lentils. Egypt, Iraq, the UAE and other countries in the region together consume around 1.2–1.5 million tons per year. And importantly, this demand has hardly changed over the past ten years. The UAE is becoming not just an importer, but a logistics and trading hub for pulses. Peas, lentils, and chickpeas are shipped here from Australia, Canada, and Ukraine, stored there, and traders wait for changes in India’s policy or other countries. Because shipping from the UAE to India is faster, and this gives traders flexibility. But there is currently an oversupply of pulses globally — about 4 million tons of stocks. This means pressure on prices. But it also means opportunities for importers and for regions like MENA that can strengthen their role in global pulse trade,” the analyst summarized.
FOODAGRO MEETUP is not viewed as a one-time initiative. The first meeting in Dubai demonstrated strong interest from the business community and received positive feedback from participants and international partners, who have already confirmed their readiness to continue supporting the platform’s development.
“Our goal is to create a permanent international platform that will allow Ukrainian agribusiness to systematically expand its geographic presence in foreign markets,” Antonina Skliarenko concluded.