DMCC has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Naturalim France Miel (NFM), one of France's leading honey production and processing companies, to support the development of the DMCC Honey Centre and strengthen Dubai's position as a regional hub for the global honey trade.
The partnership will combine DMCC's ambition to establish a world-class honey ecosystem with NFM's technical expertise across honey production, testing, processing and international market development. Together, the two organisations will explore opportunities to strengthen quality standards, improve traceability, enhance local production capabilities and unlock new export opportunities for Emirati honey.
As part of the collaboration, DMCC and NFM will work together to explore the transfer of international apicultural best practices to support the development of the UAE beekeeping sector. This includes knowledge sharing across hive and colony management, harvesting techniques, packaging protocols and the selection of melliferous plant species, helping to build local capability while supporting the long-term competitiveness of Emirati honey producers.
The agreement will also explore the establishment of a dedicated honey testing laboratory within the DMCC Honey Centre, enabling advanced quality assurance, analytical testing and traceability standards through technical knowledge transfer, laboratory design support, personnel training and ongoing audit practices. Alongside this, NFM will provide expertise in industrial process engineering to optimise honey packaging operations and strengthen value-added processing capabilities.
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DMCC, said: “The future of commodities lies not only in trading them, but in building the specialist ecosystems that support quality, innovation, provenance and international market access. The DMCC Honey Centre is another example of how we are creating these ecosystems to capture greater value across global supply chains, bringing together producers, testing capabilities and commercial expertise within a single integrated hub. Through our partnership with Naturalim France Miel, we will draw on their decades of international experience to strengthen the UAE’s beekeeping sector, develop rigorous quality and traceability standards, and position Dubai as a leading regional centre for the honey trade.”
Xavier Turlin, General Manager, Naturalim France Miel, said: “Naturalim France Miel has built its reputation on quality, traceability and technical excellence across every stage of the honey value chain. We are pleased to partner with DMCC to share this expertise as it develops the Honey Centre into a platform that supports producers, raises industry standards and creates new opportunities for trade – while strengthening the integrity of the honey market and supporting efforts to combat fraud that undermines it. By combining international best practice with Dubai's position as a global trading hub, we see significant potential to strengthen the regional honey ecosystem and support its long-term growth.”
Beyond technical collaboration, the partnership will explore opportunities to expand commercial access for honey producers across regional and international markets. This includes evaluating distribution opportunities across the UAE and Gulf region, complementary sourcing of premium honey varieties such as Sidr and Samar, and supporting the future export of locally produced Emirati honey into European markets through cooperation on quality, traceability and regulatory requirements.
The partnership also establishes a framework for broader strategic cooperation across research, technology adoption, industry engagement and value-added honey products, supporting the long-term development of Dubai's honey ecosystem and reinforcing the emirate's role as a global centre for specialised commodity trade.