New Market Research Report: Qatar Food & Drink Report Q2 2011

May 18, 2011 - PRLog -- Our outlook for Qatar continues to be broadly positive, particularly as the country remains an oasis of stability in an increasingly volatile region. The main factor behind this strong outlook continues to be the country's enviable economic growth. Our optimistic view for Qatar's growth potential is underpinned by the country's ambitious projects in the energy sector and the private non-hydrocarbon economy. While oil and gas exports will continue to be the main driver of the economy's outperformance relative to its regional counterparts, the government's focus is slowly shifting to large investments in the private sector, particularly infrastructure. We forecast economic growth to continue at an impressive pace over the coming years and pencil in real GDP growth to come in at 17.2% year-on-year (y-o-y) in 2011 (up from an estimated 15.9% in 2010), and easing through the remainder of our forecast period to average 8.7% over 2012-2015. Such a strong outlook has very positive implications for the country's food and drink sector, with premiumisation likely to increasingly take hold.

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Full Report Details at
- http://www.fastmr.com/prod/152730_qatar_food_drink_report...
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Headline Industry Data

* 2010 food consumption growth = -1.74%; forecast to 2015 = +40.6%.
 * 2010 soft drinks value sales = +19.9%; forecast to 2015 = +60.6%.
 * 2010 mass grocery retail sales = +17.6%; forecast to 2015 = +50.8%.
 * 2010 hypermarket sales = +17.7%; forecast to 2015 = +44.7%.


Key Company Trends

Looking to development domestic agriculture: According to press reports from February 2011, Qatar is looking into the latest technology as a means of making its barren land arable to deal with its high dependency on food and drink imports. The 17-member National Food Security Programme (NFSP) committee has created a five-stage plan that will identify challenges, conduct surveys and analyse data related to exploiting the most modern agricultural methods to render the currently unused land between Doha and Al Khor arable. No doubt the project will face many challenges, particularly the lack of freshwater resources and the harsh and arid desert climate. Nevertheless, the government appears committed to investing huge sums of money in research, development and technology in order to secure lower food prices.

Multinationals losing interest? In January 2011, French food retailer Auchan left the Dubai market after just two years. This move suggests that from the point of view of some of the leading Western retailers, the Gulf region dynamic on a per capita income basis arguably does not provide sufficient scale compared to other emerging retail regions. Even though Dubai is still without question the region's highincome hotspot and most in tune with Western consumer habits, consumers are not spending as freely as they were before Auchan entered the market. To make the Middle East region an important part of its emerging markets business, Auchan would probably have had to start a joint venture with a local operator in order to adequately grow its scale, something that it did not do.

Risks To Outlook

Potential fluctuations in hydrocarbon prices: The main threat for Qatar remains the fluctuations of global oil prices. Despite the government's efforts to diversify its economy away from the energy sector, non-hydrocarbon sector growth would still not be sufficient to sustain the entire economy should oil prices collapse. Another major risk comes from the ongoing social and political upheaval in the region. Qatar's short-term political risk profile remains robust. Nevertheless, Qatar is as authoritarian as most other states in the Gulf and, as we have seen so far in 2011, this can fuel tensions even in the least expected countries.

Partial Table of Contents:

SWOT Analysis
- Qatar Food Industry SWOT
- Qatar Drink Industry SWOT
- Qatar Mass Grocery Retail Industry SWOT
Business Environment
- BMI's Core Global Industry Views
- BMI Food & Drink Core Views
- Middle East Food & Drink Business Environment Ratings
- Table: Middle East And North Africa Food & Drink Risk/Reward Ratings
- Qatar Food & Drink Business Environment Rating
- Macroeconomic Outlook
- Table: Qatar Economic Activity, 2006-2015
Industry Forecast Scenario
- Consumer Outlook
- Food
- Total Food Consumption
- Table: Qatar Food Consumption Indicators, 2007-2015
- Drink
- Soft Drinks
- Table: Qatar Soft Drinks Indicators, 2005-2015
- Hot Drinks
- Mass Grocery Retail
- Table: Qatar MGR Indicators, 2005-2015
- Table: Grocery Retail Sales By Format, 2009 And 2019
- Trade
- Table: Qatar Food & Drink Trade Indicators, 2005-2015 (US$mn)
Food
- Key Gulf Region Industry Trends
- Premiumisation Key To Growth
- Growing Popularity Of Eating Out And Snack Foods
- Diversification In to New Products And Frontier Markets
- Growing Investment Interest From Non-Regional MNCs
- Shift In Food Security Strategy?
- Market Overview
- Food Production
- Halal Food
- Table: Muslim Populations In Selected Countries
Drink
- Key Gulf Region Industry Trends
- Frontier Market Investment Strengthening
- Carbonate Prices Moving Up
- Diversifying Away From Carbonates
- Market Overview
- Hot Drinks
- Soft Drinks
Mass Grocery Retail
- Key Gulf Region Industry Trends
- Frontier Market Investment
- Consolidation
- Growing Investment Into Modern Convenience Retailing
- Multinational Presence Growing?
- Market Overview
- Table: Structure Of Qatar's MGR Market - Sales Value By Format, 2004-2010 (US$bn)
- Table: Structure Of Qatar's MGR Market - Sales Value By Format, 2004-2010 (QARbn)
Competitive Landscape
- Table: Key Players In Qatar's Food & Drink Sector
- Table: Key Players In Qatar's MGR Sector
Company Analysis
- Drink
- Masafi
- Mass Grocery Retail
- Carrefour MAF
- EMKE Group (LuLu)
BMI Food & Drink Methodology
- BMI Food & Drink Industry Glossary
- Food & Drink
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Full Table of Contents is available at:
-- http://www.fastmr.com/catalog/product.aspx?productid=1527...

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Fast Market Research is an online aggregator and distributor of market research and business information. We represent the world's top research publishers and analysts and provide quick and easy access to the best competitive intelligence available.