DOHA: A huge and ultra-modern meat processing plant being built at a cost of QR200m ($55m) is all set to open here next month, providing the needed fillip to Qatar’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in food production.
Production capacity of the upcoming plant that will manufacture all kinds of meat products will be 10 tonnes a day. The plant, owned by Qatar International Company for the Development of the Projects, is being built for the past three years, said Ahmed Al Khalaf the company’s chairman here the other day.
The unit was scheduled to open a year ago but it was delayed due to safety and security requirements, said Al Khalaf. The unit is equipped with latest technology and is the first of its kind not only in the GCC but in the Arab world. The unit can process more than 100 types of meat products including mutton, beef and chicken.
The factory would fully meet the local demand for meat products while the surplus would be exported to neighbouring countries, as also to some other Islamic and foreign countries.
Doha-based Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting said in a recent study that there were only two small meat processing units in Qatar and they could not produce more than 10 percent of the local requirement. The Qatari market relies heavily on imports.
