UAE: The Middle East’s leading food brand, Pinar, has opened the UAE’s first processed cheese factory.
Yasar Group, which owns Pinar, opened the plant with an initial investment of $27 million. The first-ever “Made in the UAE” cheese will be produced at the complex in Abu Dhabi.
Attending the launch of the new facility was HE Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister for State for Food Security, and Samir Chaturvedi, CEO of the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD).
“Creating strong partnerships with the private sector is a key pillar in supporting the UAE’s food security profile, as it strengthens food production and management across the entire food value chain through the launch of innovation-based food projects,” said HE Almheiri.
“The opening of this new Pinar facility is a tangible outcome of the UAE’s targeted investment in the food sector, which aims to increase domestic food production to cope with the country’s ever-increasing population growth.”
Using smart manufacturing techniques, this state-of-the-art factory is technology-driven and highly digitised, with realtime online tracking.
It has the capacity to produce approximately 30,000 tonnes of cheese per year, and the company expects to double this within two years.
All products made at the new facility will be sold primarily in the Middle East and North Africa as well as several new potential markets.
Spanning 20,000 square meters, the base has created more than 100 jobs. Yasar Group is also looking at opportunities for further manufacturing facilities in the Middle East, which will, in turn, create yet more jobs.
Sustainability has been a central focus in the development of the facility, with key initiatives including treating 100% of the wastewater, recycling all product packaging, creating solar energy to provide up to 20% of the plant’s power needs, fully insulated walls and a ceiling to save cooling energy.