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Almarai
Found in: Companies of Saudi Arabia
Almarai is the largest integrated dairy foods company in the world. The company was established in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1976, under the leadership of HH Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer, as it remains to this day. His Highness recognized the potential to transform traditional methods of dairy farming to serve the needs of the rapidly expanding Saudi Arabian market. Under his visionary guidance and patronage, numerous agricultural projects were developed towards achieving this objective, and what began with the processing of fresh milk and labneh (butter milk) soon expanded into modern dairy farms and state-of-the-art processing plants.
The company is based in Riyadh, the capital city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The companys network extends throughout the Arabian peninsula, leading and influencing the agricultural dairy processing and food distribution industries.
Today, Almarai enjoys a strong equity and a dominant status in the Saudi and the Gulf markets with its range of dairy, food and beverage products.
The Evolution
In the early 90s Almarai entered into a restructuring phase moving away from a decentralized to a centralized structure. The first Central Processing Plant was commissioned replacing 5 decentralized plants. Almarai also established four large dairy farms in the Central area replacing ten decentralized small farms. This classified Almarai as the low cost producer in the region.
Since then, the company has continued to invest heavily in technologically advanced production facilities and equipments. A second and larger Central Processing Plant incorporating a new cheese plant was commissioned in late 2005. A new super farm has been commissioned and a second one is currently under construction. Today, Almarai is capable of serving high quality products to more than 35,000 retail outlets within the GCC.
One of the cornerstones of Almarais success is its well established distribution network within the Gulf countries.
In 2005, Almarai moved from being a privately-owned company to a publicly listed company and today has over 90,000 shareholders.
During 2007, with the acquisition of Western Bakeries (flagship brand Lusine), Almarai extended its footprint in the food category in the region. Exceeding all expectations, the results for 2007 show Almarai generating a profit of SR 667.3 million from SR 464.7 million in 2006.
One of the mainstays of Almarais success is its unique ability to maintain and deliver high quality products. This intrinsic attribute combined with a strong understanding of consumer tastes and preferences acquired through intensive consumer research, ensures that Almarai continues to be a market leader in the GCC countries. And, with the acquisition of Western Bakeries, the product range has been expanded to include a range of bakery products as well as fresh and long-life dairy products, which are made primarily from fresh milk, fruit juices, cheese, butter and other non-dairy products.
Products
Almarai produces a variety of dairy and food products, as follows
Fresh milk
Fresh flavoured milk
Long-life milk (full fat and low-fat)
Long-life flavoured milk
Functional milk (Lacto-free milk)
Laban (full fat and low-fat)
Functional laban (for weight control)
Plain fresh (full fat and low-fat) yoghurt
Fruit flavoured yoghurt
Creme caramel
Custard
Mousse
Fresh bottled juice
Cheese
Bakery products
Community Services
Almarai actively contributes to support the development of the society. The company sponsors and organizes various competitions as well as cultural, educational and athletic events, such as the Scientific Innovation award, the Educational Excellence award for students across the GCC and drawing competitions for children. Almarai also supports the Ruaat Al Khair (sponsoring good deeds) program through the companys charitable program initiative.
Awards
Almarai is the first dairy farm in the world to have been accredited with ISO 9002. Almarai also received the ISO 9001-2000 award, across all its operating divisions, including farms, procurement, processing, technical research and development, distribution and supply chain sales.
External links
[http://www.westbake.com Western Bakeries
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Almarai