The report titled “UAE Baby Food Market Outlook to 2022 – By Category (Dried Baby Food, Prepared Baby Food, Milk Formula and Other Baby Food), By Inorganic and Organic Baby Food, By Region (Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Sharjah, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain)” provides a comprehensive analysis of the baby food market in the UAE. The report also covers the overall market size in terms of revenue and sales volume, SWOT Analysis, decision making process, competitive landscape and growth drivers and trends and government role and regulations. The report concludes with market projection for future market described above and analyst recommendations highlighting the major opportunities and cautions for the UAE Baby food market.

Market Overview

The baby food market of UAE is still in its growth stage. The market displayed a strong competitive scenario where international players that hold majority of the stake are constantly trying to increase their existing market share. The UAE Baby Food market has majorly been an import dominated market. The market is receptive to newness and innovations for instance, camel milk based baby food products and halal baby food products have gained a lot of popularity in the country. Despite the fact that government is encouraging breast feeding among new mothers and economic impact due to oil price shock of mid 2014 that continued till 2015, the baby food market has shown consistent growth.

UAE Baby Food Market Segmentation

By Food Category (Dried Baby Food, Prepared Baby Food, Other Baby Food, Milk Formula): Milk formula is the most conventional baby food product in the market and is considered as the prime substitute of mother’s milk, therefore it was the leading market segment in the year 2017 with a considerable revenue share.

By Nature (Organic Food and Inorganic Food): This segmentation includes baby food categories such as dried baby food, prepared baby food and other baby food but not milk formula. In the UAE baby food market, the majority of the share was held by Inorganic Baby Food due to the reasonable price positioning over organic food.

By Age (0-6 Months, 6-12 Months, 12+ Months): Stage 3 milk formulae for babies age 12 months and above is the leading category in terms of sales due to the larger population size. Best selling stage 3 milk formulae brands include Nido, Nan, Illume, Progress Gold, Pediasure and Isomer.

By Region (Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Sharjah, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, and Umm Al Quwain): Dubai accounted for the largest sale of baby food followed by Abu Dhabi. About 75% of the revenue is contributed collectively by the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The, other regions such as Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain have a very limited market share.

By Channel of Distribution (Hypermarkets, Supermarkets, Independent Small Grocers, Health and Beauty Specialist Retailers, Other Foods Non Grocery Specialists, Internet Retailing): The supply of baby food in UAE is taken care of majorly by offline stores including Hypermarkets and Supermarkets. Subsequent purchases after consulting health experts are made from these renowned and trustworthy megastores. Presently, Internet retailing channels like e-commerce websites, company websites, baby products’ specific websites and websites of offline stores accounted for a very low share in the distribution.

By Milk Formula (Standard Milk Powered Formula, Follow on Milk Powdered Formula, Growing-Up Milk Formula, and Special Baby Milk Formula): The majority of the milk formula sales in UAE baby food market contributed through growing-up milk formula products. It held a dominant share in the market. This was followed by Follow on milk formula and standard milk formula. The remaining segments that contributed to the market were special baby milk formula which is primarily required by infants with special nutritional needs or they are allergic to some specific ingredient.

Competitive Landscape

Competition within the UAE baby food market was observed as highly concentrated along with the presence of 11 major manufacturers of baby food competing on parameters such as product variant, channels of distribution and price. The leading players in the market are international companies that directly import finished baby food products in UAE. The domestic companies which are selling baby food products have negligible market share. Majority of the market shares were held by Nestle, Danone and Abbott. The remaining market share was captured by companies such as Kraft Heinz Co., HiPP GmbH & Co. Vertrieb KG, Hero Group GmbH, Hain Celestial Group Inc, DMK Deutsches Milchkontor GmbH, Holle Baby Food GmbH and United Pharmaceuticals.

UAE Baby Food Market Future Outlook

In the near future, it is anticipated that the UAE Baby food market will increase at an significant revenue CAGR during the period 2017-2022. In case of market segmentation by food category, the demand for conventional milk formula is expected to fall by the end of the year 2022. In case of types of Milk Formulas, the demand for Follow-On Milk Formula is expected to fall from slightly from 2017 to the end of the year 2022 while the demand for Other Milk Formula like Special Baby Milk Formula, standard Powdered Milk Formula and especially Growing-Up Milk Formula is expected to rise. The UAE Baby food market is expected over the forecast period due to increase in women’s participation in the workforce, rising per capita income and GDP of the country and increasing awareness among new parents to complete the nutritional requirements of their children.