A young, growing, urban population combined with economic growth, modernizing retail sector, and limited arable land make the Middle East a promising emerging market for U.S. dairy exports. The Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is overall politically stable, wealthy, and has a population of 50 million which is growing at three times the rate of the U.S. Consumers in the GCC, and the Middle East in general have a long history of dairy in their diets and Middle Eastern governments are increasingly focusing on food security and safety and view U.S. dairy products as being high quality. U.S. dairy exports to the Middle East and North Africa were valued at approximately $800 million in 2013 – an increase of 70% over 2012 with Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and the UAE being the top importers.
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