Mai Dubai to double up on bottled water production

Mai Dubai, which is owned by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), on Sunday said it will more than double its current production capacity next year as it hopes to gain a larger portion of the bottled water market in the UAE.

The expansion plans will be carried out in two phases to increase efficiency through fully automated warehouses for finished goods and raw material, including a monorail spanning 1 kilometre.

At the end of last July, Dewa said Mai Dubai could produce 16 million units and would expand to 50 million units by 2020, based on a planned additional investment of Dh600 million.

“We’ll get new equipment for the factory as we believe this will be a key to our ongoing competitiveness and pursuit of innovative solutions,” said Jay Andres, the chief executive of Mai Dubai.

The UAE bottled water industry is shifting from dominant players as competition heats up. According to Euromonitor, Masafi Mineral Water led the bottled water industry, taking 27 per cent of the market share last year. However, the company is losing steam as it prices products at a premium in comparison to other suppliers such as National Food Products’ Oasis and Agthia’s Al Ain.

And Mai Dubai is looking to grow into one of the country’s top brands.

“After three years since the launch of Mai Dubai, it has become a very popular brand and one of the leading bottled drinking water companies in the UAE in record time,” said Saeed Al Tayer, managing director and chief executive of Dewa. “The project will allow Mai Dubai to raise the level of competition in the bottled water industry, locally and globally, by implementing best practices and the latest technologies in this field.”

lgraves@thenational.ae

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