Miller Magazine Issue: 142 October 2021

81 TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM MILLER / OCTOber 2021 tions but are fully booked for wheat flour. Approximate- ly 96% of the mills' production is for the local market, although the mills were recently exporting wheat flour directly to Yemen and East Africa. We import the raw ma- terials in bulk from Australia, Russia, Canada to Oman through Salah, Muscat and Sohar ports. The different lo- cation for these three mills enables each to distribute the final products in nearby districts. The milling industry has grown and developed, the mills are now using the latest technology from famous flour mills manufacturers, local Omani staff is now participating in the technical division in the mills such as milling, quality as well as sales and logistics. What are the major challenges the Oman milling in- dustry facing today? One of the major challenges is the market size. Al- though Oman's population has increased recently, the market size is still small as compared with the mills' ca- pacities. Also, the wheat flour supplies from nearby coun- tries create hard competition for the local mills. Although the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) market is opened for all countries, Oman flour mills still far late entering the market. The mindset focusing on local products and local customers must be changed. On the other hand, factors like the lack of raw mate- rials and high cost, the lack of skilled workers, visas for foreign workers and the high-interest rate of business loans, are at the top of the list of the challenges. The most significant internal obstacles are competitive pres- sure in the market, the difficulty of external marketing, high labour cost and high operating cost. The need for strategic intervention by regulatory agencies and gov- ernment sectors, primarily aimed to mitigate the various challenges and provide a conducive environment for en- terprises to develop. How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the grain market in your country and region? The world has been living with coronavirus through most of 2020, and, unfortunately, the pandemic shows little sign of abating, especially in the early months of 2021. Ensuring that safety standards are upheld in the industry is crucial to maintaining the high level of trust that consumers have in food manufacturers presently. This includes making sure that both delivered food or the work environment is safe. Food manufacturing is one of those sectors where it is not possible to work from home – you can’t package wheat flour over Microsoft Teams, after all. Keeping workers safe and restoring con- fidence in the workforce that their manufacturing facility is a secure environment remained key challenges for companies throughout 2021. Dealing with constant shutdowns during the last year have perhaps had mostly adapted during 2021, with many forced to transform from a bustling dining room into a takeaway overnight, or the limited time attending in hypermarket for shopping, this has raised concerns when it comes to sales and distribution of the products. How is the market predicted to develop in the future? The recent growth in Oman's population, coupled with per capita income, has increased the demand for wheat flour, which has further raised the production of flour. Change from traditional to urban and modern life- styles of Omani consumers has increased the demand for various types of flours in the preparation of fast foods items. Moreover, the rise in health concerns for high-pro- tein flour provides an impetus for flour millers to produce high fiber and whole wheat flour. Although changes in taste and preference of consumers, as well as dietary concerns for manufacturers to develop differentiated products, have impacted the overall sales, due to con- sumer health awareness and changing lifestyle especial- ly with the new generation, we expect the consumption of bakery products and healthy bread to be increased next years.