Almarai on track to import 100% of animal fodder this year

Saudi Arabia’s Almarai Co. is on track to import 100 percent of its Alfalfa needs this year, the company said in a statement to Tadawul on Tuesday.

Significant progress has been made in securing the supply of quality alfalfa from outside the Kingdom to support its dairy business, with imports from different countries, including the United States, Argentina, Spain, and Eastern Europe.

“Since the governmental resolution, Almarai has gradually increased, as previously announced, the percentage of its forage requirement imported from 52 percent in 2016 to more than 75 percent in 2017,” the dairy producer added.

The fodder imports led to a SAR 90 million rise in costs last year.

Almarai will fully comply with the government resolution by January 1, 2019, the statement added.

In December 2015, the Saudi agriculture ministry issued a three year green fodder phase-out plan to end local production by 2019.