Dubai’s Gulfood opens its 30th edition on February 17, running through February 21 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, with some $20 billion in trade deals anticipated across the five days. More than 5,500 exhibitors from 129 countries are confirmed — a scale that makes the 2025 edition a genuine barometer of where global food demand is heading this year. For frozen produce suppliers, the show’s timing — just as first-quarter contracts are being finalized — makes it one of the most commercially consequential weeks of the year.
Frozen convenience is the category to watch
Exhibitor previews suggest frozen convenience will be one of the themes to track. Austria’s Holzmann, for example, is bringing frozen ready-to-use caramelized onion portions to the show — a telling product. Caramelized onions rank among the most labor-intensive prep items in a professional kitchen; offering them frozen, portioned and ready to use speaks to the wider shift toward kitchen-ready frozen ingredients across Gulf foodservice, from hotel banqueting to quick-service chains. It is the kind of value-added frozen vegetable product that barely existed a decade ago and now anchors serious supplier portfolios. With hospitality labor costs in the Gulf among the highest in the region, products that eliminate hours of peeling, slicing and slow-cooking carry a clear value proposition beyond the ingredient cost itself.
Why the Gulf keeps pulling produce trade
The Middle East remains one of the world’s most import-dependent food markets, and frozen vegetables fit its logistics reality: long shelf life, year-round availability and tolerance for extended shipping routes. With Red Sea shipping still disrupted as the show opens, frozen supply chains — built around long transits by design — have proved more resilient than fresh. Gulfood’s 30th edition, drawing 129 countries, reflects how Dubai has become a clearinghouse for global food trade rather than merely a destination market. Dubai’s role as a re-export hub multiplies that effect: deals struck at Gulfood routinely supply not only the UAE but the wider GCC, East Africa and South Asia.
What to track across the five days
For exporters watching from afar, three questions matter: which categories draw the strongest buyer traffic, how buyers price long-term contracts against freight volatility, and whether the frozen-convenience story extends beyond onions into roasted, caramelized or pre-prepped vegetables. With $20 billion in anticipated deals, the week’s order books will say plenty about 2025 demand. Private-label programs are another thread to follow — regional retailers have been expanding frozen own-brand ranges, and Gulfood is where those programs typically find their packers.
Takeaway: Gulfood’s scale makes it worth following even for suppliers not exhibiting — the category signals from 5,500 exhibitors across 129 countries will shape frozen produce negotiations well into the second quarter, and suppliers arriving with portion-controlled, foodservice-ready formats will be speaking the buyer’s language.
