Agthia’s ‘world-first dates energy drink’ targets category shake-up

Agthia Dates Energy Drink: Key Facts Summary Agthia is an undisputed Middle Eastern food and beverage superpower, having initially established dominance via the bottled water category with the Al Ain brand. Over the years, given its stable hold in the region, the firm has been turning its focus outwards to capture more international markets , which has meant expanding its investment into multiple other categories such as snacking and ready-to-eat (RTE) / ready-to-cook (RTC) products. This year, the firm has moved to widen its horizons yet again by entering a new category: Energy drinks. This has been marked with the launch of what the company claims to be the ‘world’s first energy drink sweetened with dates’, dubbed Fuell. “Dates are part of the UAE’s history. With Fuell, we are taking that heritage forward into a modern consumer product that speaks to today’s lifestyles and expectations,” Agthia Group Managing Director and CEO Salmeen Alameri said. “Fuell represents innovation, differentiated and proudly rooted in the region. This launch reflects our ambition to build brands that are locally meaningful, and capable of competing in dynamic, high-growth categories.” According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), over 75% of the world’s dates is produced in the Middle East, a number which has been increasing at around 4% annually. This region also contributes to over 67% of the global exports of dates. “Date palms are well adapted to the harsh dryland environment, tolerating high temperatures and salinity, surviving in areas where other plant species cannot. For this reason, they constitute a principal supporting pillar for agriculture development and food security in the Arab Region,” the FAO said. As such, dates are considered to be a crucial component of the Middle Eastern economy, and Agthia’s move to develop Fuell with this very traditional and local ingredient is considered a strategic one in terms of attracting an even wider global audience. “Fuell’s recipe and development brings a distinctly Emirati perspective to the global energy drink category,” Alameri added. “It combines date-based sweetness with functional ingredients such as guarana and Korean red ginseng, an offering that is relevant to consumers and stays connected to natural ingredients and heritage.” Fuell may be one of Agthia’s most innovative concepts yet to bring more dates to a global audience, but it is far from its first foray. Most notably, the firm’s snacks portfolio was historically also heavily centred on the use of dates: several of its most prominent snack brands, Abu Auf and Al Foah are best-known for dates-related products. Back in 2023, Agthia had announced additional investments into the production and processing of date products , citing its snacking business as a ‘major contributor’ to growth. Unfortunately, this became somewhat dampened by 2025 after the firm saw a decline in demand for these snacks following geopolitical and supply challenges. This declining pattern has continued into 2026, where Agthia saw an overall 13% year-on-year drop in snacking revenue, with its financial reports focusing far less on dates and related products as a growth engine compared to previous years. As such, it is unsurprising that the firm is looking for new ways to grow — and also to ensure it can keep dates as a major ingredient within its portfolio. Via the Al Foah brand, Agthia owns the world’s largest organic date farm located in the UAE, estimated at over 1,321 hectares and comprising over 70,000 date palm trees. Al Foah was first established in 2005 as an entity to regulate and grow the date palm tree sector in the UAE, before it later evolved into a food brand.

Agthia’s ‘world-first dates energy drink’ targets category shake-up

United Arab Emirates (UAE) based Agthia has entered the energy drink category with a world-first invention, attempting to appeal to a modern audience with a major regional ingredient: dates

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