Verticroft - Alfa-hay Demand in the Middle East Increases

Saudi Arabia looks to Argentina and Sudan to meet the demand for the forage crop.

Saudi Arabia banned the production of the forage crop, Alfa-hay in late 2016 and the effects are now starting to show, Saudi Arabian Alfa-hay imports are circa 1,250,000 MT in 2018, whilst the UAE's Alfa-hay imports are around 825,000 MT representing a 1000% increase from 2011 according to a GAIN report from the USDA published November 17 (SA1702)

With the average price of Alfa-hay Circa 190 USD as of August we 2018 the region is set to import circa 1 billion USD of Alfa-hay in 2018

Adrian Mason CEO of Verticroft said "We have positioned our self to meet the high import demand from dairy and cattle farmers in the Middle East . We have a consistent, predictable and environmentally intelligent supply capability of circa 100,000 MT per annum and we are able to sign key off take agreements with buyers at favorable prices to avoid market fluctuations and price increases."

Spain , the largest Producer and exporter of Alfa-hay in the world exported 82, 000 MT of Alfa-hay to Saudi Arabia . This was an increase from 31, 000 MT the year before representing an increase of 164.5% annual increase.

Verticroft strategically located our primary growing facility in Spain as it is the largest exporter of Alfa-hay in the world, there is a really high level of talent in Spain , as-well as extremely established logistics routes and processing facilities.

We have facilities in the Middle East which are highly profitable, but our cooling bill does increase dramatically in the summer months, Spain's average yearly temperature of 21 degrees serves our facilities well and allows us the optimum climate for our Vertical Crop Culture as-well as an established off take and logistic chain said Adrian Mason CEO at Verticroft

As global demand continues to increase due to the world's growing population and meat and poultry consumption Verticroft is continuing to expand operations globally with a key focus on Spain and Europe

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates Verticroft is the world's largest producer of sustainable Alfa-hay using VCC (vertical crop culture), with an annual production capacity of 150,000 MT per annum.

PR@verticroft.com www.verticroft.com