Manufacturing & Supply Chain

Musgrave Group, Ireland’s leading food retail and wholesale company, has announced an export deal worth €5 million with Alosra, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s leading high-end supermarket. Alosra is the grocery retail subsidiary of BMMI Group, a long-established retail, distribution and hospitality group that is listed on the Bahraini stock exchange.

Under the terms of the agreement, Musgrave will supply a selection of products from its SuperValu and Musgrave Excellence Own Brand range, as well as a number of Irish brands including products from its Food Academy programme, which is run in partnership with Bord Bia and the Local Enterprise Offices. There is growing appeal in Bahrain for specific product segments such as breakfast cereals, coffee, jam, biscuits and healthy snacks, which are all included in the SuperValu Own Brand range.

The deal with Alosra is the latest development in Musgrave’s ongoing strategy to explore growth opportunities for Irish food abroad. In 2016, Musgrave agreed a partnership with Alibaba Group to use its Tmall Global e-commerce platform to sell SuperValu Own Brand products directly to Chinese consumers.

Chris Martin, Musgrave CEO, comments: “Global demand for Irish produce continues to grow thanks to its outstanding quality and the dedicated efforts of Bord Bia. This demand has led to our latest export agreement with Alosra, Bahrain’s leading premium supermarket group. Musgrave is proud to support long-standing Irish producers and suppliers and enable small brands to access global markets.”

“Alosra has had a longstanding interest in and a relationship with Ireland,” says BMMI General Manager of Food Retailing and Production, Jaffar Al Asfoor, who oversees Alosra supermarket. “Many members of our team trained in Ireland and we have always been inspired by how passionate Irish people are about their heritage and their food. With Musgrave, we found a partner that we have perfect synergy with and we thought this would be a great opportunity for Ireland to come to Bahrain.”

The Alosra team was in attendance at the recent Marketplace International in Dublin, a unique, invitation-only event that brings together top Irish food and drink exporters and international trade buyers. Organised by Bord Bia, the trade show has a major focus on sustainability, with all participating Irish suppliers at the event being Origin Green verified members.

Tara McCarthy, CEO of Bord Bia, adds: “Musgrave’s new export partnership with Alosra will provide a number of Irish suppliers with access to the growing Middle Eastern grocery retail market. It is another ringing endorsement for the quality of Irish produce and underlines again the growing international demand for our food and drink products.”

CAPTION:

Pictured at the announcement at the recent Marketplace International in Dublin are (from left): Tara McCarthy, CEO, Bord Bia; Jaffar Al Asfoor, BMMI General Manager of Food Retailing and Production; and Chris Martin, Musgrave CEO.