Al Barakah Dates has announced plans to expand its facility in Dubai to become the world’s biggest privately-owned date factory.
The factory in Dubai Industrial City will more than double in size and be able to process over 100,000 tonnes of date and date products annually – equivalent to almost half of the UAE’s entire domestic harvest.
Its massive new factory will cover a total area of 600,000 square feet, including 420,000 square feet of dedicated processing and cold storage space, and is due for completion in early 2022, the company said in a statement.
The sustainable facility will be equipped with more than 6,500 solar panels to offset 3,000 tonnes emissions per year, it added.
Its expansion comes as date production rises year-on-year, driven by demand for healthier sugar alternatives and fuelled by modern technologies that have helped the products compete as healthy and vegan alternatives to sugar and other fructose-based products.
Yousuf Saleem, managing director of Al Barakah Dates, said: “This expansion will allow us to further grow our range of organic and conventional date products to cater to the growing needs of health-conscious consumers around the world.
“Today we have taken the traditional date and transformed it into various ingredients that serve as direct sugar replacements. These include pastes, syrups and date sugars.”
Yousuf Saleem, managing director of Al Barakah Dates
Saud Abu Al Shawareb, managing director of Dubai Industrial City, added: “We are pleased to play a role in the ongoing success story of Al Barakah Dates, and we eagerly anticipate the completion of its new facility to add yet another record-breaking achievement to Dubai’s growing list of accomplishments in the manufacturing space.
“As a leader in the date market, Al Barakah’s expansion will contribute significantly to the UAE’s national food security efforts, while also testifying that our holistic ecosystem is well-placed to serve the specialised needs of food and beverage leaders and support them onto their next phase of growth.”
Saud Abu Al Shawareb, managing director of Dubai Industrial City
Established in 1988, Al Barakah Dates has grown to emerge as a market leader for packaged and processed dates. Today, it is the Middle East’s first Grade A certified dates factory from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), and produces over 65,000 tonnes of dates, syrup and paste.
The company exports nearly 7,000 shipping containers’ worth of dates and date ingredients to over 75 countries worldwide.
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