Al Dahra Kohinoor
United Arab Emirates
Al Dahra has developed a rice processing and trading platform in India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. It has acquired a stake in Kohinoor Foods Ltd, owner of one of the largest rice mills in India with an annual rice production capacity of 200,000 metric tons and operations that encompass 8 grading lines, 16 color sortex machines and 20 finished rice silos with a storage capacity of 10,000 metric tons each.
In the United Arab Emirates, Al Dahra has established a joint venture with Kohinoor Foods Ltd and an independent partner Mukesh Kochhar. The primary purpose of the new joint venture “Al Dahra Kohinoor LLC” is to build an integrated rice milling, storage and distribution plant in the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD). The rice factory will be the largest and only factory of its kind in the Gulf region and will have the capacity to produce 60,000 metric tons of rice annually with a total trading capacity of 100,000 tons. Production is scalable up to 120,000 tons per annum in subsequent phases of operational expansion. The plant will be equipped with the latest milling technologies, offering various bulk packing and consumer packing options to suit individual customer needs.
Expected to be operational by the end of 2015, the plant will predominantly cater for the needs of the UAE market whilst also supplying rice to the Gulf, Africa and Europe. This new initiative will build upon the raw materials trade from India and will contribute to the enhancement of rice milling expertise and capabilities in the Gulf region. The new plant will further help secure a strategic stock reserve for food security with a storage capacity up to 50,000 metric tons.
Furthermore, Al Dahra operates two strategically located rice mills in Pakistan with an annual exportable rice production capacity of 155,000 metric tons, considered as the largest fully automated mills in Pakistan as recognized by Buhler, the leading international rice processing technology provider. The plant is also equipped with an in-house laboratory to perform all rice quality tests and ensure quality parameters are consistently met. In addition, the plant features many amenities such as temperature-controlled warehousing facilities for raw and finished rice, paddy processing and blending machines, fully automated packaging lines, loading and offloading decks with the ability of handling palletized, bulk and loose cargo.
Through its diverse investments, Al Dahra is involved in all stages of rice processing, starting from the procurement of high quality paddy to the sophisticated and mechanical process of cleaning, drying, husking, milling, polishing, color-sorting, parboiling and steaming and it produces a variety of rice products with a particular focus on the production of high quality Basmati rice, known for its long grain characteristics and distinctive flavor.