Analysts have hailed an initiative to protect supplies of key commodities in the UAE as evidence of the country’s determination to prevent regional conflict from disrupting the economy and day-to-day life.
As reported, the National Programme to Strengthen Supply Chain Resilience in the UAE aims to strengthen import routes for food, medicines and industrial products, while also building up local production.
The scheme comes amid upheaval from the Iran war and the near cessation of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which is affecting global oil supplies and hitting the availability of a wide range of goods.
“In an uncertain world, where supply chains are being interrupted all over because of high oil prices … [the UAE] wants to be seen as the place where normality still exists,” said Dr Martin Hvidt, a former professor at Zayed University in the UAE, who is now at the Centre for Modern Middle East and Muslim Studies at the University of Southern Denmark.
The new programme, launched at the end of April by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, will identify priority goods needed in the country, look at whether there could be disruption in sourcing them from abroad, and find ways to strengthen links to potential sources of these goods.
Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Foreign Trade, said this week that more than 150 commodities – which include food, medicine and industrial products – would be protected under the nationwide strategy.
The full list of core products is to be announced at the Make it in the Emirates event, which begins in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Growing local
Local manufacturing and agricultural production will also be prioritised, and partnerships will be forged to ensure the production and delivery of key commodities.
The programme was launched shortly before the UAE’s exit from Opec took effect, a move seen as bolstering the country’s strategic autonomy.
In recent days the UAE has also announced plans for the Dubai Metro Gold Line, highlighting a desire to continue growth and development despite the upheaval caused by the Iran war.
When it comes to food, prices have increased in many parts of the world and the UAE is more vulnerable than some other nations to supply issues because more than 80 per cent of its food comes from abroad.
Disruption is set to continue, even if the Strait of Hormuz opens fully, because the production of fertiliser – a process heavily dependent on the oil and gas sector – has been hit, which is expected to cause lower crop yields and higher prices later this year.
Dr Hvidt said that the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which impacted global wheat supplies and pushed up prices, showed the importance of maintaining diverse food supply chains and of not being heavily dependent on a small number of nations.
“The ultimate goal is that they can supply their own population with adequate food,” he said. “They don’t want to be in a position where a state like Russia of the US or another state can decide whether they can get sufficient supplies.”
Over and above this, he said that the UAE’s strengthening of supply chains was “very, very important” because it demonstrated that trading links that go through Dubai – one of the world’s most important transshipment hubs – remained secure.
Protecting supply chains
Michael Mason, professor of environmental geography at the London School of Economics and a former director of the institute’s Middle East Centre, said that the UAE was in a much better position than many other nations to secure access to supplies of essential goods because of its “economic clout”.
“They do have that financial capability at least to ensure they have other options available,” he said in reference to the country’s access to food.
With a large proportion of the country’s food coming in through the Strait of Hormuz, he said that it may be necessary to reconsider the strategy of securing supplies by investing in agricultural production in other countries, notably in African nations such as Sudan and Mauritania. It is also important to increase the actual routes through which food comes in, he indicated.
“They’re going to have to think about diversifying supply routes and increasing local food production. It has to be high-tech,” he said.
Key investment
The UAE has heavily invested in such high-tech vertical farms, which maximise production and minimise water use, an approach Prof Mason said was necessary given the country’s limited water supplies.
Among the initiatives that have previously been announced is the Plant the Emirates strategy, which was launched in late 2024 to expand domestic agricultural production.
Prof Mason also said the UAE had already been “much more ambitious” than some other nations in cutting food waste, which can contribute to food security.
Another previous initiative to prevent shortages of key goods is an agreement with Saudi Arabia announced in 2019 for the two nations to rely on one another for supplies of food or other essentials in times of crisis or natural disaster.
Pharmaceutical production has been affected by the Iran war because many drugs have petrochemical precursors and because of disruption to sea and air transport, said Dr Frederic Schneider, a non-resident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs and a former lecturer at the University of Birmingham Dubai.
Dr Schneider said that Dubai was often a stopping off point for pharmaceutical transport routes between East Asia and Europe.
“Pharmaceuticals have already become more expensive in some countries, but the shortage is uneven and depends on domestic production capacities and availability of alternative suppliers,” he said.
“GCC countries are unaffected for now, as governments announced that pharmaceuticals are in sufficient supply. However, with the war and the closure of the Strait still unresolved, the threat is not over.”
The new supply chain initiative aims to limit the impact of any continuing bottlenecks in pharmaceutical production and transport caused by the regional situation.
