Qatar’s Muntajat eyes 21 offices across globe by yearend

Pearl Bantillo

03-Apr-2014

Interview story by Pearl Bantillo

Muntajat CEO Abdulrahman Ali Al-AbdullaHOUSTON (ICIS)–Muntajat plans to open a total of 21 offices by the end of the year, aggressively growing its global reach as the sole petrochemical products distributor of Qatar, the company’s top executive said on Thursday.

The expansion is in line with Qatar’s $25bn planned investment to boost its petrochemical capacity to 23m tonnes by 2020.

“Muntajat is expanding its global reach and supply chain program in preparation for the added capacity,” Abdulrahman Ali Al-Abdulla, CEO of the state-owned chemical distributor told ICIS.

The company is currently in charge of marketing and sales of almost 90% of Qatar’s production of 15 different chemical, fertilizer and polymer products in different grades and specifications, he said.

“This figure will rise to 100% when the final transition is completed later this year,” Al-Abdulla said, citing that last year, Muntajat shipped out 7.7m tonnes of Qatari chemicals to about 80 countries.

Its global marketing arm called Muntajat BV was set up in The Hague, Netherlands in 2013 “as part of the next phase of the company’s growth”, with a target to establish about 36 offices around the world. Five offices have so far been established – in Amman, Melbourne, Cape Town, Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul.

“Muntajat is in the process of implementing our supply chain program and putting in place the infrastructure of up to 36 local marketing offices in addition to warehouses in key markets around the world to serve local and regional customers,” Al-Abdulla said, highlighting the importance of the Asian market in the industry.

Increasing its presence in Asia via opening offices in China and India – the region’s biggest emerging markets – is part of Muntajat’s next phase of expansion, he said.

“We see increase in demand across the product range, especially in fertilizers as developing markets require these products to increase and secure their food supply,” the Muntajat CEO said.

“The demand curve follows global trends in economic development, which we do not foresee changing in the near term. That’s why several of our first office openings – in Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne– are targeting high-demand Asian markets,” Al-Abdulla said.

Muntajat, which was established in 2012, is proceeding with an aggressive expansion strategy notwithstanding the continued weakness of the global economy.

“While fragile, the recovery is indeed in full swing  … we [Muntajat] are in growth mode. Our business strategy is based on a long-term plan that considers the cyclical nature of the global economic landscape,” Al-Abdulla said.

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