Special Report: Oman - Muscat boosts non-GCC trade links
In a year when Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been investing in agricultural land in Africa and Asia to meet their food needs, Oman is concentrating on the development of its own agriculture industry for both its domestic needs and to earn revenues from exports.
By 2020, Muscat wants to double the contribution of the agriculture sector to its economy, to 5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). It is also encouraging private food processing firms to expand as part of its plans for the manufacturing sector to contribute 29 per cent of GDP.
The sultanate has rich fishing grounds and, by choosing crops suitable to its dry environment, it can meet around 60 per cent of its fruit and vegetable requirements. But it will never be self-sufficient in its food needs, particularly for staples such as rice and wheat, which have to be imported. However, more than half the 200,000 tonnes of wheat imported last year were -re-exported as flour.
Oman has a competitive flour industry, which offers a good example of how Muscat would like to develop its food processing abilities. The sultanate’s flour mills are now diversifying into bakery and pasta products for export.
While Oman can never be the bread basket of the GCC, it can certainly develop one of the region’s more significant food industries.
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