Demand for organic food in the UAE has increased by 300-400%

Organic food suppliers in the UAE are seeing a skyrocketing demand. Industry insiders say the delivery of organic food has increased by 300 to 400 percent as residents are health-conscious in the wake of the novel coronavirus epidemic. News Arabian Business.

One of the top companies selling and delivering online is Greenheart Organic Farms, whose farms are in Sharjah and its main sales and marketing center is in Dubai. Elena Kinane, the founder of Greenheart, told Arabian Business that the number of deliveries has tripled or more, although wholesale sales at hotels and restaurants across the UAE have declined due to lockdown restrictions.

He added that there has been a transformation in the market. As the hotels and restaurants are closed, the food items allotted for them are going for home delivery. Greenheart delivers 100 to 110 home deliveries a day, collecting food from farms at 5am and delivering it to customers by 8am.

Even if the lockdown policy is relaxed, restaurants will be able to operate at 30 percent capacity. Kinane thinks that the demand for premium organic food from this sector is not increasing in the short term. However, at the individual level, the demand will remain high and many buyers will rely on this organic food for a long time, he said.

Like other organic foods, the demand for dairy products is also skyrocketing, say those involved in the sector. Online orders for organic and lactose-free milk have increased since the onset of the epidemic, according to Dubai-based Koita Milk. Mostafa Koita, the company's founder, said online sales had risen by about 300 to 400 percent.