BACKGROUND

The food industry has been facing strong influences in the UAE and KSA markets for a year due to the economic crisis, advertising opportunities and lately due to the month of Ramadan and changes in consumer habits.

Across the Arab Media markets, ‘food, beverages & tobacco’ increased their ad spend by 47%, between 2008 and 2009, according to PARC. Television attracted FMCG, food & beverages and Telecommunication marketers, while newspapers attracted the real estate and government marketers.

This report first appeared in Gulf Marketing Review's September 2008 issue. The full report with statistics is available for download at the bottom of this page.

Background

Inflation has become a concern for most the last few years and particularly this year. Food inflation has been steadily rising, and is speculated to be due to rise in energy prices and biofuels. The issue of food inflation is neither temporary nor transitory. Combating food inflation remains a big challenge.