Research company makes optimistic forecasts for local food market

Research and Markets announced the addition of Egypt Food and Drink Report Q2 2008 to their offering, Business Wire reported. The report provides independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on the local food and drink industry. The report discussed the expansion of the local mass grocery retail (MGR) market. Local retailers, the report continues, are increasingly looking for ways to get a slice of these profits and parlay their local knowledge into success. The report showed confidence in Egyptian economic growth in spite of the global downward trend. “We believe Egypt is relatively well-insulated from the current global economic turmoil, thanks to strong domestic demand and ongoing robust investment flows from the Gulf . In fact, we have revised up our 2008 real GDP growth forecast from 5.9 percent to 6.7 percent, on the back of last year s stellar performance, the report explained.”This strong growth will result in greater spending on food and drink, making this an attractive market for investors, with Egypt coming in at joint second place in BMI s Food and Drink Ratings, which assess a market s attractiveness to industry investors in comparison to its regional peers. Egypt’s MGR sector is expected to experience dramatic growth over the next five years, the report added.”We expect sales to grow by 72.8 percent to reach $6.45 billion in 2012, with the hypermarket format continuing to contribute most significantly to this enormous growth forecast.”While the hypermarket growth forecast of 148 percent to 2012 will largely be a result of multinational investment and the selling power of just one store, the discount sector will benefit from Egypt’s current economic situation. The report explains that the discount format is expected to grow by 64.2 percent by 2010 because the consumers who can’t afford to shop in high end outlets but want a better shopping experience would opt to use the discount model. “The expansion of market leader Metro, owned by Mansour Group, into this sub-sector through its Kheer Zaman banner will provide a further boost to sales through this format, it added.