Tasty opportunities in Saudi Arabia's snack sector

The Gulf Cooperation Council region, in particular Saudi Arabia, offers strong growth potential for confectionery and snack food producers over our forecast period to 2018. Growth opportunities in Saudi Arabia will be driven by rising disposable incomes, a young population and a developed taste for innovative products.

We believe that Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will offer tremendous growth opportunities for snacks and confectionery producers over our forecast period to 2018. First, GDP growth and economic diversification will fuel private final consumption. In 2015, we forecast real private consumption growth at 5.0% in Saudi Arabia, 7.2% in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 10.0% in Qatar, even with weaker oil prices. The modernisation of lifestyles will result in changing eating habits, with snacks replacing meals. In addition, as disposable incomes rise, premiumisation will take place in the confectionery and snack categories. Second, compared with other regions, GCC consumers have traditionally demonstrated a strong taste for Western and innovative food products, illustrated for instance by high per capital consumption of carbonated soft drinks