Halal hopes

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LOOTAH: The new facility reflects a major increase in our production capacity.

Al Islami Foods has ambitious plans to increase production capacity and expand its presence in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, as Retail News discovers.

Regional demand for Al Islami Foods' Real Halal products has spurred the company's AED 58 million (US $15.7 million) investment in a new factory at Dubai's Techno Park, a fully owned subsidiary of Economic Zones World, according to its CEO Saleh Abdullah Lootah, CEO, Al Islami Foods.

Al Islami Foods, formerly Co-Op Islami, was established in 1981 and the food producer has since employed the most advanced technologies in its operations.

The new 8000m² factory, backed by the expertise of consultants M/s International Food Systems and Arachdome, is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2009.

"Despite global recession, our developmental plans will continue. The new facility reflects a major increase in our production capacity to meet the growing demand for our products. This landmark venture is a further testament to our continued commitment in the region to provide the Real Halal products," comments Lootah.

"We have set our five-year plan. One of our milestones for the plan was having our new factory, because of the capacity constraints at the existing factory. We wanted a location close to our offices at Dubai Investment Park and our other factory in Jebel Ali, close to the logistics area and the new airport," he adds.

This year the company also intends to build up its presence in Saudi Arabia, after recently signing a strategic distribution agreement with Arabian Trading Supplies, which will distribute Al Islami's premium products, such as processed meat and frozen seafood, under the brand name Co-op Islami in the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia, with its 28 million-strong population, remains the largest market for food & beverage in the Gulf region as it represents 63% of the US$9 billion GCC food market.

"The UAE and Saudi Arabia enjoy everlasting traditional bonds. Emiratis consider Saudi Arabia their second home out of the UAE. The synergy with strong distributors such as the Arabian Trading Supplies will consolidate company's efforts in developing the GCC's halal food market and taking the Al Islami benchmark to the international arena, as part of our regional and global expansion plan," Lootah says.

"In 2009 Al Islami is preparing to consolidate its presence in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Jordan and Sudan.  Iraq and Saudi Arabia are coming into the picture. We aim to be a major player in Saudi Arabia and we will be supplying our products there from from the UAE until we capture a major market share," he adds.

According to Lootah, despite the "calculated risk," the company will approach the market in Saudi Arabia in two phases. "If our market share reaches our target there, then we will open our own factory there within two years," he reveals.

"So many people have approached us to open a factory in Saudi Arabia and go in there aggressively, yet we will be walking there before we are running. In the next phase, we will have our other concepts there, such as Al Farooj Fast Food, Al Islami Meat Shops and Al Islami Cart," he remarks.

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