Dubai-based Emirates Industry for Camel Milk & Products (EICMP), the holding company for Camelicious, along with sister companies The Majlis and Al Nassma, are teaming up with new partners to develop camel-based products for a whole range of new sectors. The General Manager of Al Nassma has reported a 100 percent growth in sales over the last 12 months alone with major retailers.
The three sister companies Camelicious, The Majlis and Al Nassma all source their basic milk product from a single farm which houses more than 3,000 camels, and collectively produces almost 5,000 litres per day. Together, they are considered as the biggest entity in the UAE developing camel-based produce.
Camelicious, AL Nasma and The Majlis in pictures
Although the company has seen a 100 percent rise in sales of its produce over the last year, demand still outstrips supply and increasing production is the company’s biggest challenge.
“Camels give an average of seven litres per day, compare that to a cow, which is 25 litres and up. Around 5,000 litres a day is not awfully much from Camelicious alone,” said Kirsten Lange, the director of communications for all three brands.
The Al Nassma brand distributes fine chocolate products made from camel milk and The Majlis retail outlet in Dubai Mall sells a range of bread loaves, muffins, Danish pastries and ice cream, while Camelicious offers a range of camel milk products and is planning to expand its range in the coming weeks.
“We have four flavours of milk, three cheeses, and two more new dairy products that will hit the shelves next month… We believe in the potential of camel milk and products you can actually make out of camel milk,” she added.
The company is looking to expand further and commercialise the use of camel milk into more overseas markets. “It’s not only the camel milk products we are aiming to export. The first products arrived in Europe last week. They included camel milk powder, camel whey powder and small quantities of fresh camel milk and this is for testing and sampling,” Lange explained.
“So we are looking for partners to develop new products and discover new fields. I mean we are pioneers it’s the first time it’s ever been done, never before did anyone take it to that scale.”
According to Lange, they are planning to expand into the pharmaceutical industry, cosmetics industry and are even experimenting with sports and nutritional supplements. Camel milk contains high amounts of vitamin C and is rich in lanolin, which is a mineral that is known for its beauty and skin moisturising benefits and is complimenting to the needs of the cosmetic industry.
“You expect this kind of goat milk taste, this gamey kind of harsh taste, and it’s exactly the opposite. It’s actually really light, it has 50 percent less fat than cow’s milk and it has a slightly salty edge to it because it has a lot of minerals and calcium mainly,” she said.
In terms of buyers, Al Nassma’s recent sales records show 40 percent of the sales go towards Westerners and Europeans, 40 percent of consumers are from the Far East and only 20 percent are from this region. “When you look at the sales numbers of who the people are that actually buy in Dubai Duty Free it’s really interesting to see the split. It is something that is matching here, and also matching abroad.”
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