Saudis to print three newspapers in Dubai

Saudi Research and Publishing Co (SRPC) will start printing three of its newspapers - the Arabic "Asharq Al Awsat", "Malayalam News" and "Urdu News" - in early June in Dubai to extend its reach in the Gulf. To support this move, a dedicated editorial team for each publication will be based in the Dubai Media City.

However SRPC, which claims to be the second largest publishing house in the world, will not invest in its own printing press in Dubai. Its requirements will be met by existing print houses, a senior official said. Currently, the newspapers are printed in Dammam and shipped to Bahrain for distribution. This created problems with shipments and made it necessary to have early deadlines.

"By basing our Gulf editions here, we will solve all distribution problems we have had earlier. We will take advantage of the shipping options available from Dubai. "The move also helps us shift our deadlines further back and makes it possible to raise our circulation sizably in the Gulf," said Abdul Rehman Al Rashid, chief editor of "Asharq Al Awsat", the SRPC flagship launched in 1977.

"We have made the move to Dubai for business reasons, and we believe it's the right one.
"We are not fighting over the same cake. The market is quite elastic and can be expanded even further," Al Rashid said. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, will continue to have its own editions of all three newspapers.

With its senior editorial team based in London, "Asharq Al Awsat" has a circulation of 234,000 worldwide and editions published in Marseilles, Frankfurt, New York, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Cairo, Beirut, Casablanca, Kuwait and London. "Malayalam News" was launched in 1999 and has a circulation of 40,000 a day, while "Urdu News" was introduced in the mid-1990s and has a circulation of about 37,000.

SRPC now has 17 publications, including "Arab News", the largest English language daily in the kingdom with over 52,000 copies sold daily. Part of the Riyadh-headquartered Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), SRPC will also have the sister companies Al Khaleejiah and the Emirates Printing, Publishing and Distribution Co, also at DMC.