Mazoon Dairy expects operations to start by late 2018

Muscat: Mazoon Dairy, the biggest dairy project coming up in the Sultanate under the country’s national food security initiative, will start operations in the second half of 2018. The company on Sunday signed a contract with Abu Hatim Co for enabling the site for the proposed project at Al Sunaynah in Buraimi.
The OMR100 million-dairy farm, which is expected to produce 202 million litres in 2026, plans to house 25,000 cows over a period of 10 years. However, in the first year, the dairy farm will have 4,000cows.
Presently, 69 per cent of the Sultanate’s demand for dairy products is met through imports, while 31 per cent is produced by local dairy firms.
“And with this project, we are expecting to cover the gap (between demand and local production) by 50 per cent within a period of 10 years,” Dr Arjun Subramanian, general manager (projects), Mazoon Dairy, told Times of Oman, after the signing ceremony.
Apart from fresh milk, the company will produce laban, yogurt, fruit yogurt, ice cream, cheese and juice. “We will also produce long-life milk and juice.”
“We are delighted to note that the project is progressing to the execution stage with the award of this site enabling works contract. It is in our mission to address the self-sufficiency in dairy production. When operational, the integrated facility will comprise a state-of-the-art dairy farm, a fully automated centralised processing plant and related sales and distribution facilities ensuring product reach within Oman and the wider region,” said Dr Rashid Al Masroori, chairman of Mazoon Dairy.
“Our goal is to produce approximately 202 million litres in 2026, which will go up to 985 million litres in 2040. This will greatly reduce the Sultanate’s import dependence from 69 per cent in 2014 to 13 per cent in 2026. The long-term goal is to attain self-sufficiency and also export to neighbouring countries in the Middle East,” added Dr Al Masroori.
Dr Subramanian said that the main contract for building the processing plant and other facilities will be awarded sometime in the first quarter of next year. The company has already floated a pre-qualification tender for the main project.
The total estimated capital expenditure for the project is OMR100 million, which is for building the dairy farm, processing plant and related marketing and logistics facilities. As many as 50 per cent of the funding will be by way of equity capital from promoters and the remaining 50 per cent will be loan from term lending institutions.
In the initial year, the dairy farm will have 4,000 cows, which will go up to 25,000 animals in the tenth year (including 15,000 milking cows). “We expect the cows to be imported from Europe, the US and Australia,” noted Dr Subramanian. The fodder needed for the animals will not be produced locally, rather sourced from outside the country and from southern Dhofar region.
Mazoon Daily project will create extensive opportunities for employment and growth of small and medium enterprises in the Sultanate, and particularly encourage Omanisation. The project will provide employment for 400 people in the initial year, which will go up to 2,000 people by tenth year of operation.