Supermarket supplier Musgrave has agreed a "significant" new supply partnership with Choithrams, a retailer with over 40 stores across the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The agreement will see Musgrave supply Choithrams with over 500 products from its SuperValu own brand range alongside other Irish brands and products from SuperValu's Food Academy programme.
It operates this partnership in conjunction with Bord Bia and the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) network.
The SuperValu Food Academy programme helps small businesses through the journey from start up to getting their products onto shelves. Choithrams customers can expect to see brands including The Happy Pear, which started out in Food Academy, on its shelves soon.
Today's deal follows the announcement last year that 250 SuperValu products were available across the UAE on noon Grocery, the Middle East’s largest online grocery marketplace and noon.com’s dedicated fresh grocery platform.
Noel Keeley, Musgrave CEO, said the company has built a robust and reliable supply chain, which enables it to deliver much-loved Irish products to markets around the world.
"Our international export offer includes more than 14,000 own brand product lines for grocery and wholesale, from high quality fresh, chilled and frozen foods to dried food," Mr Keeley said.
"This new partnership with Choithrams is a superb opportunity for Musgrave to continue strategically expanding our presence in the Middle East. We look forward to offering customers the great value, premium quality produce which SuperValu is renowned for," he added.
The deal was announced during a Bord Bia trade mission to the Gulfood Conference in Dubai today.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue said that "tremendous progress" has been made in recent years in expanding the reach of Irish food to consumers across the globe.
"Global demand for Irish produce continues to grow thanks to its outstanding quality and the dedicated efforts of Bord Bia and the initiative of successful home-grown companies such as Musgrave," he added.
