Italian Private Labels are arriving in Dubai at the request of hotels, supermarket chains and shopping centres, whose number grows visibly from day to day in the UAE city. In only a few years, Dubai has become a symbol of luxury and exclusivity, and the high quality of Italian Private Label products brings excellent results in such a young and dynamic market and geographical area.

This year is already the third time that Italian firms, organised in a collective by the ICE (Italian Trade Commission), will participate in the PLME, Private Label Middle East, to be held in the World Trade Centre in Dubai, the business heart of the UAE, from 27 to 29 October 2009. Last year the PLME event, now in its sixth edition, was attended by 100 exhibitors from 20 different countries, and was visited by more than 5,000 professionals. This year about a dozen Italian firms will be represented in a 126 square metre group area organised by the ICE, representing products with labels and brands not known to the wider public, but destined for the main purchasers in the Middle East such as hotel chains and large shopping centres. Of course Italy is already a preferred supplier for the whole area and the UAE provide a strategic access point for the whole of the Middle East, including for the Private Label industry, which includes many sectors and places all products under the brand of a single distributor. In 2007 the net balance of commercial exchange between Italy and the UAE showed a 4,119 million Euros positive result for Italian exports, with a total value of Italian exports to the UAE of 4,442.9 million Euros. In the same year, exports of Italian products to the UAE rose by 34.2% with respect to 2006.

Ten Italian firms will be represented in the 2009 ICE group, exhibiting products from industries such as food, fresh foods, frozen foods, wines, drinks, health products, small home electronics, products for the home and lastly cosmetics, all rigorously under the Made in Italy quality brand. The aim, of course, is to attract buyers from the large chains, which in Dubai rely heavily on Private Labels. According to a Nielsen study, the sector is growing by 11% per year in the UAE area, double the global average (which recorded a rise of 5%). Among other things Dubai, thanks to its strategic position as a passage for goods between Europe and the Asian subcontinent, works as a genuine exchange point for the area. More than 90% of all products commercialised in Dubai come from abroad, and a huge 70% of these are then re-exported to 160 countries, making Dubai the third "re-export" centre in the world. Furthermore, imports for the whole region showed a further 22% growth in 2007.

With their participation in the PLME, Private Labels aim to fill the shelves of the 2,100 new commercial spaces which will soon be opening in Dubai, for a real estate value of approximately 1,000 billion dollars. Tourism is also growing exponentially in Dubai and approximately 300 billion dollars have already been invested in order to increase hotel capacity, with more than 162 new hotels opening by 2010: an occasion not to be missed for Private Label manufacturers, who will be able to propose themselves as suppliers for the new structures.