Ripe for Change: An Overview of the Dates Industry

The date palm market is poised to grow by $6.98 billion between 2020 to 2024, progressing at a compound growth rate of 7%, each year (Global Date Palm Market 2020-2024 Study). The industry is ripe with change, and will continue to incorporate new types of product mixes, formations and applications.

The reputation of dates as a source of essential minerals has considerably led to an uptick in its use as a semi-finished ingredient. It also indicates changes in customer behaviours; dates are not only being consumed as part of cultural practices but are being integrated into everyday snacking and as an alternate to commercial sugar.

**A selection of product packaging we have developed for Nakheel Alya, that target varied customer usage behaviours and price-points**

Dates are now being commonly used in snack bars and cereals, jams, dairy products including flavoured milk and ice-cream. It is also increasingly being promoted as a key baking ingredient and to produce energy bars, chutneys, sauces, and condiments.

As the industry diversifies further, we anticipate the following shifts to affect the dates and date products landscape:

New dates ingredient mixes and fusion foods are expected, i.e. date spreads, date seed coffee, date vinegar.
Brands will appeal to broader markets in novel ways, going beyond usual tropes of gifting or festive consumption, i.e. dates sponsored events, date recipes.
New sizes of packaging focusing around customer behaviours will be launched, i.e. cereal packets with chopped dates, experimental date bar flavours.
Educating customers and connecting with them online will continue to increase importance, even for B2B companies that would typically only rely on trade fairs.