How the UAE Is Preparing for Food Supply Shocks Amid Regional Conflict

When the regional crisis disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE released strategic food reserves, opened alternative routes and coordinated with suppliers and importers to keep food moving.

Khamis Alsheryani, an adviser to the director general at the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, said the response reflected lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Honestly, this crisis revealed that our region was ready for it,” he said. “We learned from previous crises, especially Covid, so our emergency plan activated and strategic reserve kicked in.”

“

Honestly, this crisis revealed that our region was ready for it.

Authorities monitored the market in real time to identify bottlenecks before they affected essential supplies. But the disruption also exposed a new vulnerability: the country had not previously accounted for the impact of a major shipping route being interrupted, which pushed freight and insurance costs higher.

“

We learned from previous crises, especially Covid, so our emergency plan activated and strategic reserve kicked in.

Alsheryani said the main lesson was to build systems that can adapt rather than rely on prediction. For a country with limited water resources and difficult farming conditions, he argued that resilience was more realistic than complete self-sufficiency. That approach combines local production where practical, food imports from diverse overseas markets and strategic reserves that can absorb shocks.

Diversification, he said, cannot begin once a crisis is under way. Abu Dhabi’s Golden List, which pre-approves trusted suppliers and products, provides a way to switch sources when one supply line fails. Alternative transport routes opened during an emergency should also become permanent capacity rather than remain options used only in a crisis.

“

The most important lesson is to build a system that adapts rather than predict.

Food companies said government coordination helped preserve supplies. Dina Mongy, head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Nestlé MENA, said the government prioritized food shipments and worked directly with industry. “The government here has been extremely helpful to us,” she said. Food products received priority for vessel berthing and clearances, helping maintain market availability while companies avoided difficult routes.

“

The government here has been extremely helpful to us.