JEDDAH: Oman has launched new food security initiatives, partnering with government entities and the private sector to strengthen supply chain operations and enhance sustainability.

The scheme, announced by the sultanate’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Water Resources, reflects the Gulf state’s commitment to long-term food security and economic diversification as part of its broader development goals.

Food security is a top priority for Oman, particularly in light of the increasing risks that climate change poses to global supplies. 

The government has launched several initiatives, including the Food Security Strategy 2010-2020, which focuses on three key areas such as managing demand, boosting local production, and ensuring reliable imports, with specific goals to promote sustainable agriculture, rural development, and fisheries.

The country also launched the National Nutrition Strategy 2020-2030, introduced by the Ministry of Health in 2021, aligning with Oman’s Vision 2040. The initiative aims to improve nutrition, eliminate malnutrition, and enhance food security, which aligns with the World Health Organization’s Regional Nutrition Strategy.

Oman also unveiled the Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy 2040, which aims to enhance the productivity and sustainability of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. To further these goals, the sultanate also launched the Million Date Palm Plantation Project.

Salem bin Abdullah Al-Ghufaili, the agriculture ministry’s director general of food security, said that these projects include a sugar refining project — the first of its kind in the country, adding that it will be located on an area of 18,000 sq. meters at Sohar Port, with an annual production capacity of approximately 1 million tons, as reported by Oman News Agency.

Al-Ghufaili said that the plant will be equipped with state-of-the-art, European-made production lines, utilizing the latest technological advancements to produce refined sugar of the highest quality from raw sugar. 

He also said the production will be distributed locally, regionally, and globally to meet increasing demand, adding that the project’s rapid progress, with 91 percent completion, is bringing it closer to the final stages.

In a statement to ONA, the director general added that Salalah Mills Co. is currently implementing a food industries center project in the Khazaen Economic City, with an estimated cost of 18.5 million Omani rials ($48.08 million) and a production capacity of around 1.4 million units per day in its first phase.

He added that the initiative includes an industrial bakery, production lines for frozen and semi-cooked pastries, equipment and silos for storing raw materials, and refrigerated and dry storage facilities for products.

Al-Ghufaili said that the undertakings include constructing wheat silos at Sohar Port, increasing storage capacity to 160,000 tons to ensure sufficient supplies for the population.

He also highlighted a new partnership between Khazaen Economic City and Zircon Food Industries Co. to build an integrated industrial complex for filtering, sorting, and packaging rice, sugar, and spices, along with large-scale food storage units.

He stressed the ministry’s efforts to secure essential foodstuffs and storage to ensure availability during emergencies while maintaining price stability and shielding the market from fluctuations caused by global economic crises. 

The ministry also strategically stockpiles key items such as rice, wheat, and sugar, as well as lentils, powdered milk, cooking oil, and tea.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is poised to account for the largest share of bond maturities in the Gulf Cooperation Council region from 2025 to 2029, with a projected total of $168 billion, according to a recent analysis by Kamco Invest.

The Kuwait-based financial firm’s report highlights that most of these maturities will come from bonds and sukuk issued by the Saudi government, which is expected to reach $110.2 billion over the five-year period.

This comes after Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority approved its most significant regulatory overhaul in November, aimed at revamping the sukuk and debt instrument market.

The reforms include simplifying the prospectus requirements for public, private, and exempted offerings, streamlining processes, and reducing regulatory burdens.

Following Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar will also see significant bond maturities, projected at $153.2 billion and $79.5 billion, respectively, over the same period.

In the UAE, a substantial portion of these maturities—around $120 billion—will be from corporate issuances. Meanwhile, Kuwait, with limited government bond issuances, will see the smallest maturities in the region, totaling just $15.1 billion.

Kamco Invest, referencing Bloomberg data, noted that sovereign bond maturities in the GCC will reach $232 billion between 2025 and 2029, while corporate bond maturities are expected to total $235 billion during the same timeframe.

Both sukuk and bond maturities are anticipated to remain high through 2025-2029 before gradually tapering off. The elevated maturities in the coming years are largely attributed to a surge in short-term issuances (with maturities of less than five years) in 2020 and 2021, as governments raised funds to cover budget deficits during the pandemic.

The report also revealed that banks and other financial sectors in the GCC face $169.9 billion in maturities over the next five years, making up approximately 72.3 percent of total corporate maturities. The energy sector follows with $25.3 billion in maturities, while the utilities and materials sectors account for $13.1 billion.

As of mid-December 2024, the aggregate value of bond and sukuk issuances reached $182.7 billion, up from $116.2 billion in 2023. The increase was driven by a 48.5 percent year-on-year rise in corporate issuances, which grew from $71 billion in 2023 to $105.4 billion in 2024. Government issuances also surged to $77.3 billion, marking a 71.1 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Kamco Invest further emphasized that while GCC economies will not be immune to the broader trends in the global fixed-income market, their relatively low levels of government borrowing, strong credit profiles, and substantial sovereign wealth funds should help mitigate potential negative impacts.

“Compared to other emerging markets, the GCC economies are in a more favorable position, as they are not burdened by the massive interest payments that other nations are facing on the $29 trillion of debt accumulated over the past decade,” the report concluded.