Almarai
Coordinates: 24°47′08″N 46°42′27″E / 24.785614°N 46.707441°E
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Public | |
Industry | Food processing |
Founded | 1977 |
Headquarters | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
Area served | Gulf Cooperation Council |
Key people |
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Products | Dairy, yogurt, juices, bakeries, poultry and infant formula |
Revenue |
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Website | http://almarai.com |
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Almarai Company (Arabic: شركة المراعي, lit. 'The Pasture') is an Arabian dairy manufacturing company. It was established in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1977 as a partnership between the Irish agri-foods pioneer Alastair McGuckian, his brother Paddy and Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer.[1] Currently, it is the largest vertically integrated dairy company in the Middle East.[2]
Developments
During the early 1990s, Almarai entered a period of restructuring and reinvestment that took it from a decentralized to a centralized structure. Five decentralized processing plants were replaced with the a central processing plant. Also ten small scattered dairy farms were replaced with four large dairy farms in Al Kharj in the central region.
2005 brought many developments for Almarai, a second larger central processing plant was commissioned, incorporating a new cheese plant, two new super-farms were commissioned and Almarai a publicly listed company that has around 70,000 shareholders.
Bakery
In 2007, Almarai entered the bakery category by acquiring Jeddah-based Western Bakeries. Two years later, it started the construction of a new bakery facility in Al Kharj. The name of their brand in the bakery sector is L'usine.
Poultry
In 2009, Almarai acquired the Hail Agricultural Development Company. After investing in a production facility, it launched the new poultry brand – Alyoum.
Geographical expansion
Almarai partnered with PepsiCo. In 2009 and launched a joint venture – the International Dairy and Juice (IDJ) Company
Infant nutrition
In 2010, Almarai entered the infant nutrition market with the construction of the region’s first infant nutrition plant at Al Kharj, commissioned in 2012. Almarai formed the International Pediatric Nutrition Company (IPNC), a 50-50 joint venture with Mead Johnson Nutrition. Its infant nutrition products are co-branded under Almarai and Mead Johnson’s flagship range, Enfa.
At the end of 2012, Almarai's market capitalization exceeded SAR25 million.
Farms and Processing Plants
Almarai has manufacturing plants located in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. Their most common plants are their 3 CPPs or Central Processing Plants in Al Kharj. Their Alyoum poultry brand for poultry products are made in Hali.[3]
Al Kharj Complex
Almarai currently has 3 Central Processing Plants situated in a complex in Al Kharj which uses state of the art machinery to mass produce most of the products from the company except for Alyoum poultry which is located in Hali. They also have a laboratory to ensure that their products are safe to consume before production and a cold storage area to keep their products fresh after being produced.
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CPP 1
Almarai's first Central Processing Plant was opened in 1997 when 5 decentralized Almarai plants were replaced. Since their introduction of their fresh juice products to the market in 1999, they had integrated a juice plant in their CPP to manufacture their juice products in 18 flavors.
CPP 2/ Central Baking Facility
Their second Central Processing Plant was used since 2005 which incorporates a new cheese plant. Since their acquisition with Western Bakeries for L'usine[4] and a joint venture with Chipita Food International and Modern Food Industries for 7 Days[5], they also incorporated a Central Baking Facility in their CPP to manufacture and produce different types of baked goods and snacks from these two brands.
CPP 3
Their third CPP was used for commercial operation since 2017 which has a state of the art gallery where visitors can have a first hand viewing and educational experience about the dairy industry and overall information of Almarai.[6][7]
Nuralac
Since its launch of Nuralac in 2014, the company has a special plant for making Nuralac Infant Nutrition milk products in their complex in Al Kharj.
Dairy Farms in Al Kharj
Almarai has 5 dairy farms situated in Al Kharj and 1 dairy farm close to the city of durhma where cows collect their milk using state of the art machines and reproduce.
Alyoum Poultry
Almarai's Alyoum Poultry products are made at Hail. The chickens are also bred and grown here.
Awards
Almarai was the first dairy farm in to be accredited with ISO 22000.[8] Almarai also received the ISO 9001-2000, across all its operating divisions, (farming, procurement, processing, technical research and development, distribution and supply chain.
References
- ↑ Hidden Billionaire Milking Saudi Dairy Fortune in Desert, Bloomberg
- ↑ "Innovation Drive Al-Marai". Elopak. Archived from the original on 13 November 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
- ↑ https://www.almarai.com/en/corporate/investors/overview/
- ↑ https://www.just-food.com/news/almarai-to-acquire-75-of-western-bakeries_id96789.aspx
- ↑ http://www.chipita.com/el-en/joint-ventures/modern-food-industries/
- ↑ https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-saudis-almarai-starts-commercial-o/brief-saudis-almarai-starts-commercial-operation-of-central-production-plant-idUSFWN1NT0AL
- ↑ "Almarai unites with GEA to build new dairy facility in Saudi Arabia".
- ↑ Morris, Charles E.; Mans, Jack (1 October 1998). "Almarai Co. Ltd.: Dairy in the Desert". accessmylibrary. Retrieved 19 October 2008.