Al Babtain to increase market share in UAE

Riyadh-based Al Babtain Melamine has registered 65 million Saudi riyals in sales revenue last year, after investing 8 million riyals in expansion of one of the largest melamine companies in the kingdom.

The company, one of the largest in manufacturing melamine in Saudi Arabia, produced 3,500 tonnes of melamine products, mostly tableware, last year.

"We have been in business for the last 12 years and have been increasing our market share in Saudi Arabia," said Subhi M. Al Hashem, managing director of the company.

Al Babtain Melamine is participating in the Houseware and Hometech exhibition at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

"Currently, we enjoy about 60 per cent share of the domestic market in melamine tableware market. We export about 30 per cent of the products to all the GCC and Middle East markets."

He said the company was established 12 years ago with a capital investment to the tune of 40 million riyals.

There are two major local manufacturers producing Melamine tableware, while some Far Eastern brands have been dominating the lower end of the retail market.

"Most Far Eastern melamine products are made from urea while we use different raw materials imported from Italy. The basic technology has been imported from Germany and Italy and we now do everything from design stage to the finished products.

"We have a small presence in the UAE. However, we are looking to penetrate the UAE market in a better way," he said.

Outside the kingdom, a good number of Thai, Indian and Pakistani melamine manufacturers are dominating the local markets.