The UAE and Italy have been enjoying a strong bilateral trade and investment relationship. However, Agrilevante will pave the way for increased cooperation in green technology (GreenTech) to boost the agricultural development of the region’s second-largest economy, experts say.
Top executives and organizers of Agrilevante, an exhibition dedicated to technologies for specific use in Mediterranean agriculture, stated that the agricultural machinery market in the UAE is experiencing significant and prolonged growth and will continue to do so in the coming years.
“The value of agricultural machinery exports to the UAE has more than doubled in the past four years, from €108 million in 2021 to €234 million last year,” Fabio Ricci, Deputy Director of FederUnacoma, the Italian association of agricultural machinery manufacturers, told BTR on the sidelines of an event in Dubai.
Referring to the data from the research company Exportplanning, Ricci said sales of agricultural machinery to the UAE recorded an impressive 35% growth during the 2021-24 period. The upward trend will continue in the short and medium term at a slower pace, but still averaging no less than 5% per annum.
“At present, Italian agricultural machinery manufacturers are among the main suppliers to the UAE and account for a 6.8% market share of Made in Italy products to the emirate,” he said.
Milk processing systems, seeding, transplanting and fertilizing solutions, and livestock farming machinery are the main product categories of Italian companies’ exports to the UAE, according to national statistics bureau Istat.
Ricci said only innovative and advanced technology, supported by machinery and systems specifically designed to counter critical environmental factors, can address the challenges faced by the UAE’s primary agricultural sector. “The 2025 Agrilevante exhibition to be held in Bari from October 9-12 will provide an enormous platform to offer a wide range of specific solutions for each crop in the UAE and more generally in the Mediterranean basin. It will be an ideal platform to explore the needs and priorities of agricultural economies,” he said.
Italy — A Preferential Partner
Valerio Soldani, Director of the Italian Trade Agency Office in Dubai, highlighted bilateral trade and investment relations, stating that both countries are expected to further strengthen their relations in agriculture. “Italy is proving itself to be a preferential partner to bolster the agricultural development of the UAE. We have a strong presence in the emirate and are expecting significant participation from UAE companies and businesses in the Agrilevante 2025 edition,” Soldani told BTR.
Over 95,000 visitors, including 4,000 foreigners from 27 countries, attended the previous edition of the exhibition in 2023, where 350 exhibiting industries from 20 countries showcased their products and technologies.
The Italian Trade Agency, in collaboration with FederUnacoma, will engage in business-to-business meetings with the exhibiting industries to organize the foreign delegates for the exhibition in October. About 120 foreign delegates representing 38 countries, including the UAE, are expected to come and experience the latest agricultural technologies and machinery during the four-day event.
