Page 31 - Mission Brief Qatar 2019 v2
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Baladna is a Qatari agricultural company that raises livestock and produces
dairy products. It is Qatar's largest locally-owned food and diary producer,
supplying over 95% of the country's fresh dairy products. The company was
founded as a sheep and goat farm. In May 2017, it began producing
processed dairy products for the Qatari market.
In the wake of the June 2017 suspension of diplomatic ties of several Gulf
countries with Qatar, Baladna, with state support, expanded rapidly into
producing cow's milk, which had been supplied to Qatar primarily by Saudi
Arabia. The company purchased 3,400 cows, and began milking them in July
at a farm in Umm al Hawaya.
The farm is now home to 18,000 cows, with a potential current capacity of
24,000. The cows are fed hay imported from Europe and the United
States.Baladna's current facilities cover 2 million square metres and are
spread across two farms that house 40 barns with state-of-the-art milking
parlours. Baladna has a current capacity to manufacture 700,000 to 900,000
litres of beverages per day.
About 80% of the farm's output is enough to meet domestic Qatari demand,
with the remainder exported. Baladna’s main goal is to reach self-sufficiency
of dairy production in Qatar. After reaching self-sufficiency the company will
move to exporting their dairy products and begin producing juice products.
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