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New Policy Paper - From Dependence to Interdependence: The Power of the UAE’s Food Sector by Christian Henderson

Read the full introduction below

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INTRO

The UAE is highly dependent on imported food, and as much as 90% of the country’s food commodities are sourced from abroad. To mitigate this, the UAE has invested in an agribusiness sector that has vertically integrated every stage of production (Henderson, 2026; Koch, 2020; Woertz, 2013). As a result, the UAE is highly food secure, particularly when compared to the rest of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The country has one of the largest agribusiness sectors in the Arab world, and it sits at the center of value chains that cut across Asia, Africa and beyond. In 2023, it imported foodstuffs with a total value of $23.65 billion and its exports of food were valued at $11.68 billion (OEC, 2026).

One characteristic of this food industry is its close relationship with the UAE state, as many UAE agribusiness companies are partly owned by the state, and benefit from state support. This example of what Philip McMichael describes as “agro-security mercantilism” reflects the trend of growing state involvement in the global food system, which is mirrored in other economic sectors (2013). As a result, there is speculation that we are moving away from the neoliberal era, toward a world that will be defined by these state-led capitals (Alami, 2026).

This paper assesses the relationship between the UAE state and its agribusiness sector in two ways. Firstly, it examines the way in which the UAE state supports the agribusiness industry and uses its levers of aid, investment and diplomacy to secure access for its agribusiness firms. Secondly, this paper explores the strategic nature of the UAE’s food sector. The UAE is economically robust, and it is considered a “middle power.” Its external investments, services economy and its logistics infrastructure allow the UAE state to pursue global agendas. Its networks of trade and investment provide a means for leverage and influence that can mitigate the country’s vulnerabilities.

In this context, the paper argues that the agribusiness sector allows the UAE state to accumulate power, leverage and influence internationally. To conceptualize this aspect of the UAE’s foreign policy, this paper submits that the agribusiness sector creates “interdependence.” The scale of the country’s food imports and exports, the size of the agribusiness sector and the logistical infrastructure that accompanies it, creates a relevance for other states in the region. The UAE economy is a market for exports, and a source of food imports. Its logistical capacity creates connectivity and market access. Its substantial food aid sector also serves as a foreign policy tool of the UAE state, which it uses to balance other agendas.

To make this argument this paper will look at two dimensions of the country’s food sector and the way that it represents interdependence. Firstly, it will illustrate the way in which the size of the UAE’s food trade makes it a major market for large agricultural exporters such as India, and a major source of food imports for other countries in the Middle East region. Secondly, the UAE’s food import complex is enmeshed with the country’s logistics sector, infrastructure that is highly pertinent for the patterns of capital and commodities flow in the Middle East and the Indian Ocean. Access to these logistical corridors is a highly strategic matter for powers such as India and Israel. Finally, the paper briefly assesses how the UAE weaponized this interdependence in its relationship with Qatar.

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