Almarai, the Saudi Arabian dairy company, has officially opened its new plant in Kharj (see DII, 60 (12) 24 for background).
The plant, which can process up to 1.4 million litres of milk a day, was built at a cost of $107 million and is believed to be the largest and most modern in the Middle East region.
The inauguration took place just as the Saudi government set a target milk production level of 530,000 tonnes by 2000. Output in 1996 reached 453,000 tonnes.