After setting up a textile enterprise in Oman’s Sohar Freezone, India’s ShriVallabh Pittie Group is preparing to invest in a fabrics manufacturing complex in the Salalah Free Zone in the southern region. The project will involve upstream elements, encompassing large-scale cotton cultivation, garment manufacturing and other value-add opportunities.
In the Sohar Freezone, the company’s yarn manufacturing complex has been in operation for over a year, according to company chairman Vinod Pittie.
The Salalah project will focus on the manufacture of home furnishings like bed sheets, curtains, drapes, towels, pillow covers. Initial investment is planned at around $200 million, but this will increase as the company develops the Salalah complex into a fully-integrated yarn manufacturing and textile hub over the long term, Pittie was quoted as saying by a newspaper in Oman.
As most of the company’s output from Salalah is destined for the US market, it makes good business sense to set up operations there, he said.
SV Pittie Sohar Textiles FZC, representing Phase 1 of the Group’s investments in Sohar Freezone, already features two yarn manufacturing units in operation with a further two units under construction. Total investment in the Sohar project, which will include a fifth unit as well, is projected at $450 million.
The Salalah fabrics manufacturing complex is expected to be operational within 18 months, Pittie said. While yarn for the new project will initially be sourced from Sohar Freezone, investments in dedicated yarn manufacturing capacity are also envisioned in Salalah to support the establishment of an independent, integrated set-up close to the transhipment port, he added.
