Delta will add 10,000 square metres to its factory, and expects to complete the work within 12 months. The company’s founder and director, Shiraz Osman, said the new facilities would be used to add product lines to Delta’s portfolio, and help the three-year-old company expand into new markets.
New dairy products
“Delta Food Industries is planning after it succeeded in producing food products like tomato paste, tomato ketchup and milk powder to open new production lines to produce cream, milk and tea packaging in the new factories,” said Osman.
“Delta Company has sought since its establishment in 2011 to compete with major international companies in the food industry, and consequently it succeeded in building a network of clients in 16 countries to become one of the leading companies in importing and exporting raw materials for food industry,” he added.
A statement from the company said it now exports 250 shipping containers of food a month, although a Gulf News report quoted Osman as saying the current number is 150, and will rise to 250 with the new facilities. The report also said Delta’s main target markets for expansion were the West African countries of Nigeria, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Expanding free zone
Saud Salim Al Mazrouei, director of SAIF Zone, said: “We are proud of having … Delta Industries in the Zone because it is one of the leading companies in the field of food manufacturing and packaging, as it has proven in the past three years that it is one of the most successful companies in the canned food sector. Today, Delta Industries confirms once again its success by increasing its investment by Dh40m [US$11m].”
SAIF Zone is home to around 6,700 companies, and added more than 800 new companies to its list of tenants in the first half of 2014. As of 2012, more than 450 companies in the zone were industrial.
Founded in 1995 along with Sharjah’s Hamriya Port free zone, SAIF Zone is in stiff competition with free zones in the rest of the UAE, including Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone, and Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Industrial Zone, which has a dedicated Food Cluster.