October 16, 2009

National Prawn Company (NPC), a Saudi Arabian fully integrated prawn farm, has announced it would open a regional sales office and cold store in Dubai.

The cold store will allow NPC to offer its customers more variety in fresh and frozen prawn products. Customers will be able to buy containers, smaller loads such as pallets or even cartons.

The company intends to have closer and more direct relationships with customers within the food services industry and retail market.

The combination of a team on the ground and cold store will make NPC very competitive in the UAE, said Peter Fraser, NPC's Director, Commercial Development.

NPC's new consumer retail product into the UAE market will be its Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) brand, which the company expects to launch in early 2010.

NPC expects a strong demand for both fresh and cooked products in the MAP line, said Fraser.

NPC will produce roughly 45,000 tonnes of prawns by 2012 and expects to sell up to 25 percent in the UAE.