UAE Mineral Water Export Ban

Market resource say there are chances of bottled water becoming costlier in the country due to the decision of the UAE to stop exporting underground water, a local Arabic daily reported. They also said this might lead to shortages of small bottles of mineral water in the near future, especially after Saudi Arabia has also stopped exporting mineral water.

Market resource say there are chances of bottled water becoming costlier in the country due to the decision of the UAE to stop exporting underground water, a local Arabic daily reported. They also said this might lead to shortages of small bottles of mineral water in the near future, especially after Saudi Arabia has also stopped exporting mineral water.

Some, however, say the above decisions would not affect the Qatari market since it does not import more than seven percent of its bottled water requirements. They say local production could meet the demand for mineral water in Qatar over at least the next decade.

Among the solution planned by officials to avoid likely problems brought about by the decision is granting licenses to new Qatari companies to produce bottled water, Al Raya reported yesterday.

They also advise consumers to prefer big water bottles to the smaller ones. Bashar Al Salaita, General Manager at Al Sabeel Mineral Water Company said the UAE’s decision would not impact the Qatari market much, but there could be shortages in the supply of small mineral water bottles of 330ml, 600ml and 1.5 liters.

“ The above decisions would not have major impact locally. Earlier too, Saudi Arabia stopped exporting 20 mineral water brands…Qatar imports only eight mineral water brands from the Emirates,” he said. He added this shortage will only be for small bottles because Qatar has 12 factories which produce big bottles, but it has only two factories which manufacture small bottles.

Market sources say the decision of the UAE and Saudi Arabia are a blessing in disguise as Qatar can now take steps to produce more small bottles of mineral water.

Rizwan Anjum