Unibio and its local partner, Edhafat, have signed an MOU with SAGIA beginning the preparations for the establishment of a protein production plant in Saudi Arabia.
“Most people envision Saudi Arabia as a country of oil and gas with limited agricultural output, but what may still be fairly unknown to most people is the 2030 Vision of the country to transform the economy for the future,” said Unibio Group CEO, Henrik Busch-Larsen.
The Saudi Arabian 2030 Vision aims at transforming the economy using local investment power to create a more diverse and sustainable future, while also using the strategic position of the Kingdom to build a role as an integral driver of international trade bringing Africa, Asia and Europe together. In a region that may be affected by changing weather and without much fertile agricultural land as well as limited water resources, bringing in technology to address future food security challenges is key. By using local resources such as natural gas, cheap electricity and chemicals, proteins can be produced without adding stress to the agricultural system or fish stock. Saudi Arabia’s ambition is to increase aquaculture and milk production, that makes the location and the Unibio technology a very good match, the company stated.
His Excellence Ibrahim Al Omar, Governor of SAGIA said that “with a growing population, this project represents an important step towards achieving food security for the Kingdom, by providing a sustainable and economically viable source of animal feed products. The importance of this project is that it uses a clean and abundant natural source in the Kingdom, and produces a high-quality protein supplements to feed fish, poultry and livestock, in addition to the transfer of advanced technology to the Kingdom.”
Unibio is a Danish industrial biotech company that converts natural gas (methane) into a highly concentrated protein product, Uniprotein®, by microbial fermentation. The Uniprotein® produced will be used as protein ingredient for the local production of animal and fish feed but will initially also be for exports.
