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Dubai: UAE jewellery group Damas said it plans to set up manufacturing facilities in several Arab countries to support its regional expansion. Last year the firm started a manufacturing unit in partnership with Emaar Industries and Investments in Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC).
Damas deputy managing director Mohammad Tamjid Abdullah said his company wants to set up similar facilities elsewhere in the region. "That was a prototype of advanced manufacturing facility. We will set up similar factories in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt and wherever we have strong presence," Abdullah said.
The DMCC factory is operating at 50 per cent of its capacity. When the project was unveiled, the joint venture partners had said they expected a turnover of Dh1 billion per year. Damas expects the factory to be producing at its full capacity within two years.
The group has invested in a large jewellery factory in China. It began production in the beginning of this year and employs 600 people. "We will expand it to have 2,000 people working it it by 2010," Abdullah said.
China has become a major exporter of jewellery to Dubai, and some local gold companies have set up their own manufacturing units in China to benefit from lower costs of labour.
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