The UAE’s Federal Competition and Statistics Agency (FCSA) reported that the emirate traded food goods worth $8.63 billion in the first quarter of 2020.
The estimates also exhibit that the volume of the country’s food imports amounted to $ 4.89 billion in the first quarter of 2020, while the trade-in medicines and pharmaceuticals amounted to $1.22 billion, including imports worth $96.6 billion with the rest constituting exports and re-exports.
In the first quarter of 2020, the trade-in medicines and pharmaceuticals contributed to 24 percent of the total trade of the UAE in this category in 2019.
As part of the country’s efforts to achieve food security, the UAE Cabinet formed a working team to research the country’s growth of sustainable agriculture, encourage the implementation of new technology in the agricultural sector, provide food products that meet consumer demands and improve local product competitiveness.
The Emirates Food Security Council adopted a mechanism for monitoring food imports to follow their move within the supply chain, which includes three key phases.
The National Food Security Strategy strives at creating a comprehensive national system based on facilitating sustainable food production and identifying the requirements of the national food basket that includes 18 key items, in line with the required standards including knowledge of local consumption levels, production capacity, and food needs.
The plan also involves 38 long- and short-term programs that focus on four key areas, including promoting global food exchange, developing new sources of supply and diversifying food import markets
