In late August 2021, we commenced decommissioning the old and obsolete Tetra Pak Spiraflow plant at our Dammam Factory. This was one of our Tomato Paste processing plants which had served SADAFCO for over 25 years.
The area was cleared, floor was retiled, and made ready with upgraded services for the new GEA Tomato Paste Plant which arrived (on site) late September of 2021. Installation took place during October with commissioning in early November for the new plant to be ready for the stock build up during the Ramadan Promotional period. This new GEA plant replaced a 2 tonne per hour plant, and has been designed so that in the future when additional capacity is required it can run up to 5 tonnes per hour.
Much like the last financial year, this has been a unique year. While the first half of the financial year was weak, the second half has provided growth to the business and sets the company back on a strong growth trajectory. While FMCG performance in 2020 was led by COVID-19 induced consumer stock up and VAT increase, 2021 was largely affected by consumers rationalising purchases due to pressure on the wallet and rising inflation. Overall FMCG and Dairy markets remained flat on a value basis in 2021.
