JEDDAH, 20 July 2007 — “Made in Saudi Arabia” products are now gaining prominence not only in the domestic market but also in the global arena. While dairy products are being increasingly exported to the neighboring GCC countries in particular, some of Saudi Arabia’s other nonoil products are finding pride of place in the world market. One of them is the carpet manufacturing sector whose export graph is consistently on the rise.
“We manufacture 60 square million meters of carpets per year and export 60 percent of our production to a number of countries including the United States, Europe, Australia and China, besides many Middle Eastern countries,” Mohammad Helmi Kutbi, vice president for industry at Al-Sorayai Trading and Industrial Group (ATIG), told media representatives during their tour of ATIG’s carpet manufacturing facilities at the Jeddah Industrial City yesterday.
ATIG has emerged as one of the major manufacturers and exporters of carpets in the Middle East and its massive production has helped position the Kingdom as the third biggest carpet manufacturer worldwide. “We are exporting to 65 countries and are determined to expand presence worldwide in due course,” said Kutbi.
ATIG was established in Makkah around 1950s under the name of Abdullah & Nasser Al-Sorayai Co. The group first started operating by importing handmade rugs. By 1985, it initiated its own rugs factory where the company was able to produce and export its products. In 1992, it established a new factory to produce high-quality carpets with different colors and designs.
“The founders had a vision and made relentless efforts to build the first carpets factory here in 1985 and progressed with great support from the Kingdom’s official channels, which still contribute to boosting national industries and aim to position Saudi companies among global toppers on one hand and meet the demand of its local market on the other,” he said.
“It is equipped with the latest high-end technologies in the carpeting industry and has won the ‘ISO 9001’ certificate, which affirms and mandates the ultimate quality standards and global benchmark applied on the factory’s products,” said Mansour M. Al-Sorayai, general manager at Al-Sorayai Carpet Factory Co. Ltd.
A tour of the company’s facilities showed its well-established manufacturing capabilities of the highest international standards in manufacturing supported by the state-of-the-art technology in both systems and machinery.
“The standard of our products is testified by the company’s quality certificate ISO 9001-2000 which was first obtained in 1999, a first of its kind certificate to be obtained by the carpet industry in the Middle East. With the continuous support and encouragement of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, the company strives to be at the forefront of this industry dedicating its resources to continuous updating and improvement in technology, trends, and new machinery developments,” he added.
“Al-Sorayai took the decision to establish its first carpets factory to replace products imported by the company’s trading division with locally produced carpets and rugs. The main objective behind the factory’s establishment was to be more competitive with its vast range of locally produced carpets and rugs to fulfill regional requirements. The first plant was then dedicated to woven rugs and wall-to-wall carpets producing over six million square meters of different types and qualities, all manufactured to the highest standard using polypropylene, nylon, acrylic, viscous, cotton, and wool blended yarns.
Since its inception, the company added other factories undergoing yearly expansions at four different locations within the industrial city, growing almost 20 times in production capacity to cope with increasing market demand and occupying an area close to 90,000 square meters for manufacturing alone.
At the second manufacturing plant, which was established in 1992, the company focuses on machine-made tufted wall-to-wall carpets, printed carpets, accent rugs, and hand-tufted carpets using the best yarn systems available in the markets to produce various styles of local and international quality carpets for the economic, medium- and high-end market segments.
The second plant is supported by another plant, which is mainly a tufting operation, producing over 60 million square meters of printed carpets, cut pile, cut lop, tip shear, graphics, artificial grass, runners, kids’ rugs and handmade wool carpet pieces. These products use polypropylene, nylon, and polyester yarn as well as blended woolen yarns.
The Jeddah Industrial Yarn Factory (JIYFCO) is its another facility which aims to increase locally value-added production by manufacturing its own polypropylene and nylon yarn from granules obtained from the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), which are considered the main raw material in this industry.
JIYFCO was established in 1996 with the latest machinery and technology, which allows the company to be more competitive and develop some independence vis-a-vis yarn supply to the carpet factories.
JIYFCO products cover a wide collection of trendy colored yarn aside from plain white nylon for printed carpets and it exports surplus capacity to other carpet manufacturers in the GCC and North Africa. The factory’s annual capacity exceeds 13,000 tons of polypropylene yarn, over 12,000 tons of braided polypropylene yarn, and over 6,000 tons of nylon yarn.
“This is the biggest carpet factory in Jeddah and locally we face no competition,” said Osama M. Hassoun, general manager of marketing, Abdullah & Nasser Al-Sorayai Co. The group has 2,100 employees, 30 percent of them Saudi, and has plans to intensify its own on-job training program.