Continuing the research of the analytical department of the Food Export Council on sales markets, we offer to your attention Kuwait, the country in West Asia, which is the seventh richest country in the world.

Kuwait is the country with the constantly growing GDP (120,68 billion  USD),  developed oil production and financial solvency. This is the country which makes attempts to invest more in agriculture but natural obstacles such as severe climate, shortage of crop land and their low fertility, small water supplies make this country dependant on imported agricultural and food products.

Kuwait is the country with a card system of distributing main foodstuff among its citizens (subsidy). These food products include flour, bakery products, rice, sugar, lentil, milk-powder, baby food, butter, chicken meat. 75 % of these products are supplied by the markets of the other countries what makes a demand for foreign wares constantly high. The deliveries of food products from Ukraine to Kuwait are considerably low but this country has all the possibilities to become a potential market outlet for Ukraine.

One of the most promising export positions is meat of poultry. There is a slight increase in poultry meat production in Kuwait since 2018. The main obstacle to expanding industry is a limited land: the Government of Kuwait forbids building of new poultry farms and expanding the existing ones because of a lack of relevant land plots and sufficient water supply. The increased demand (due to population growth and increased consumption of poultry meat per person) is satisfied with import.  Kuwait’s annual demand in 2017 was about 132,74 thousand tons, while Ukraine supplies only 206 tons. The top importers of poultry meat are Brazilia, the United States and Saudi Arabia. Ukraine is on the 9th position.

There is a steady demand for bread and flour products in Kuwait. The total amount of delivered products to the country is 170,26 million USD, a share of imported goods from Ukraine is only 1,55 % (2,64 млн USD). It should be mentioned that the delivery of bread and flour products from Ukraine to Kuwait didn’t occur at all by 2014. However, in 2018 the import is increasingly growing by 0,8% annually. In the ranking of twenty importing countries Ukraine is on the thirteenth place. Ukraine’s main competitors in this field are Saudi Arabia, UAE and the United States.

Butter is a product of a short consumption and storage. The imported value of this product in 2017 was 46,98 million USD, the Ukrainian share in it was 3,4 % (1,63 million USD). The main importers of butter are such countries as New Zealand, Germany and Saudi Arabia. Ukraine is on the 8th place.

In total, the food market of Kuwait is estimated at 2,9 billion USD and the market of agricultural products - at 634,1 million USD.

Ukrainian producers should note that the biggest demand in Kuwait’s dairy products market is milk-powder, cheese and butter. In the meat segment, the consumer prefers chicken meat. The top products in the segment of bakery products are cakes, sweet biscuits and waffles.