Case Study: Almarai Dairy Products
- Aman Zaid
- Apr 6
- 4 min read
Almarai's revenues grew by 7.2% in 2024, reaching SAR 20.98 billion.
Competition in the food sector is one of the most challenging, as changing consumer preferences and economic changes such as inflation make maintaining quality a key factor. However, for more than 30 years, Almarai has maintained the quality of its products distributed across the Middle East and Africa. It has also emerged as a global company through its diverse products, most notably dairy products. In this article, we will present Almarai's dairy products as a case study from its inception, highlighting its strengths, the challenges it has faced, and future opportunities.
About Almarai Company and when did its dairy production journey begin?
"A Proud heritage, a positive future, and a relentless commitment to quality"
Almarai's journey began in the 1970s when His Highness Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer identified the great opportunity to develop the traditional dairy industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The company has grown from fresh milk production to modern dairy farms and state-of-the-art processing plants both inside and outside Saudi Arabia. Since then, Almarai has produced 3.5 billion kilograms of products annually, consumed by more than 42 million consumers in the Arabian Gulf, Egypt, and Jordan, in over 110,000 retail outlets across seven countries. This has placed it sixth on Forbes magazine's list of global food companies.
What are Almarai's statistics and what is its market value?
A report on the size and share of the dairy market in Saudi Arabia, analyzing growth trends and forecasts until 2030, stated that the size of the dairy market in Saudi Arabia is estimated at approximately $6.04 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach $7.37 billion by 2030, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.05% during the forecast period (2025-2030). In this context, Almarai produces 1.5 billion liters of milk annually from its own cows, making it the largest vertically integrated dairy company in the world.
Almarai's 2021 report also indicated that approximately 61% of Almarai's total revenues come from the sale of dairy products. According to the Al-Eqtisadiah platform, Almarai's revenues in 2024 grew by approximately 7.2% to reach SAR 20.98 million, reflecting the company's efforts to diversify its products to meet consumer preferences and needs. Almarai's market capitalization exceeds SAR 10 billion, and according to Okaz newspaper, Almarai ranks 15th among the 50 largest companies listed on the Saudi Tadawul platform by market capitalization. Its share price on the platform reached SAR 58.90 on January 30, 2025.
How did Almarai segment its market and strengthen its brand in the minds of consumers?
Market segmentation is one of the factors that have enabled Almarai to succeed, as it has diversified its products to include all consumer segments across all seven countries. Here is an overview of this segmentation, conducted by Harvard University, of Almarai:
Details | Segmentation Type |
Age: Infants (infant formula), Adults (fresh milk, yogurt, cheese) Gender: Targets males and females. Income: Almarai's target demographic in Saudi Arabia is consumers willing to pay more for a high-quality product and an established brand name. In countries like Jordan and Egypt, where consumers' overall financial situation is less favorable, income directly influences the choice between UHT milk and the more expensive fresh milk. Education: All educated and uneducated groups | Demographic segmentation |
Almarai operates in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, and Jordan, and its market segmentation caters to the specific characteristics of these countries. In the most economically advanced countries, Almarai produces its milk and invests in high-quality processing equipment and extensive logistics to provide the highest-quality product without compromise. | Geographic segmentation |
Almarai attracts customers of all interests, values and lifestyles, and what they all have in common is their interest in the high quality it provides. | Psychographic segmentation |
Purchasing Behavior: Customers are looking for the best quality at a reasonable price. | Behavioral segmentation |
In addition to segmenting its market, Almarai is committed to improving its products to ensure quality standards through a food safety management system. It owns most points in the supply chain, enabling it to conduct more than 10,000 quality tests and inspections of its products daily. This is clearly expressed in its slogan, "Quality You Can Trust." Almarai analyzes consumer needs and seeks out healthy, nutritious products that satisfy their tastes and meet their aspirations.
What are the challenges facing Almarai, and what are its future opportunities?
Despite the positives highlighted for Almarai, the leading dairy company in the Middle East and Africa, this leadership poses many challenges, as follows:
Local and global competition: Almarai competes with its peers in the Middle East dairy market, such as Nadec, Al Safi Danone, Sadafco, and other local and international companies.
High production costs: Almarai announced in a tweet on its official account on the X website that it will raise the prices of some dairy products in early 2023 due to the high production inputs.
However, Almarai's future opportunities depend on its ongoing research to develop its products in parallel with technological developments, as follows:
Product innovation: Over the past years, Almarai has enhanced technology to modernize and innovate its products. It is keen to use modern technologies across all manufacturing and production facilities in its various factories, particularly in dairy products, which rely on high quality.
Smart Marketing: Almarai is committed to engaging with its consumers in a way that is age-appropriate in all its marketing campaigns. It recently won the prestigious MENA Effie Award for its most effective marketing campaigns in the Middle East and Africa.
Almarai's Sustainable Practices
In its 2023 Almarai Report, Almarai affirmed its commitment to global and international animal welfare standards. As a leading food and beverage company, Almarai received the Animal Welfare Policy Compliance Certificate in March 2023. It also aimed to expand its environmental management system to include all relevant manufacturing sites within the company. According to Okaz newspaper, Almarai announced its investment strategy for 2024-2028, with investments exceeding SAR 18 billion to lead and empower the food sector and enhance food security. In another article, the newspaper also discussed Almarai's 2020 Sustainability Report, which revealed that by 2025, it would contribute to local initiatives aimed at reducing global warming.