MOCI receives 2,475 tonnes of dates in 2018
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) has completed receiving of 2018 dates crop, which was continued between December 9, 2018 and February 7, 2019 from all the governorates of the Sultanate. These dates crops were Al Mabsali, Al Madluki and Abu Naranjah.
The dates were received in the storage facility of the Ministry in Al Wadi Al Kabir in accordance with the same procedures of previous years. This is part of the role being played by the Ministry to extend government support to the farmers who supply their dates to the Ministry. The Ministry is also giving support to farmers who would supply their dates crops directly to the foreign markets encouraging them to find new and alternative markets for their products.
Ahmad bin Hamad al Harthy, Head of Dates’ Department in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said: “This season, we have assigned the work to the Oman Dates Production and Packaging Company, to handle these dates, process them as well as market and sell them.” He said that the company had specialisation in the production, collection, storage and manufacturing of dates and its related items and was planning to make huge investment during next five years to reach to the appropriate production capacity level of dates, date paste and molasses.
Al Harithy said the company wanted to optimise the use of the date products in the Sultanate and contribute in increasing the gross domestic product (GDP), by giving profits to the shareholders, using palm products in different industries, contribute in improvement of the quality of dates and the financial returns for the farmers. It also wants to establish partnerships with owners of small and medium enterprises (SMES) and use the outcomes of innovation and research. He said that the company would sort and categorise the crop by quality of each wilayat and will store them in appropriate places allocated for each category, in preparation for their purification and packing them in special bags to be ready for export.
Ahmad al Harthy said: “The number of suppliers of crops of the dates of 2018 season was 544, compared with 438 of the 2017 season.
The quantities received for the 2018 season were 2,475.331 tonnes, compared with 2,265.324 tonnes of the 2017 season. The value of the purchase of the date crops of the 2018 season reached to RO 878,450.046 compared with RO 769,142.134 of the previous year. This is in addition to the subsidy given to the farmers for direct export of dates. The price for that dates is RO 62.500 per tonne.