RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will promote its expanding date industry as guest of honor at the Fancy Food Show in New York City later this month.
The exhibition is held twice a year and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors, making it one of the largest of its kind in North America.
The Kingdom will be represented by the National Center for Palms and Dates and selected producers, showcasing premium date varieties and related products in a bid to increase their exposure to global markets.
The center said that the show served as a global platform for the industry and provided opportunities for networking, product launches, knowledge exchange and new technologies, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday.
With more than 37 million palm trees, Saudi dates are exported to 125 countries under the unified Saudi Date brand and are available in more than 1,500 retail outlets worldwide.
The center said in a recent report that the Kingdom produced 1.9 million tonnes of dates last year. The value of date exports in the period was almost SR2 billion ($533 million).
Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Alfadley said the New York food show was a strategic opportunity to support Saudi date producers, raise awareness of their products and boost exports.
More than 2,400 exhibitors from 50 countries are expected to be at the event, which runs from June 28-30.
