Cairo: There are six major farms in Saudi Arabia for producing camel milk, a Saudi trade official has said, citing bright prospects for the product.
The camel milk sells for 20 dollars per litre at the world markets, Saad Al Jalban, the head of a national camel committee at the Federation of Saudi Chambers, added.
"A company in one country sells one litre of the camel milk for 18 to 20 dollars," he told Saudi TV Al Ekhbariya.
"They were approached by merchants, particularly from China, who have bought the product for two years. We're talking about a qualitative market," he added without further details.
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Powdered camel milk is so expensive that its price is four times higher than the cow milk, according to Al Jalban.
Camels are a popular animal closely linked to heritage in Saudi Arabia. The animal has long been dubbed as the “ship of the desert”, being the lifeline for desert dwellers.
Saudi Arabia has designated 2024 as the Year of Camels, taking the shape of diverse programmes to boost national efforts to develop the camel sector.
The kingdom annually hosts the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, one of the world’s largest in the field. The pageant has become a major cultural, tourist, entertainment and economic event with its competitions and concomitant activities that attract thousands of fans from the region and around the world.
The current edition of the festival started on December 1 and runs until January 3 under the theme "Pride of its People", in Al Sayahid north east of Riyadh.
In recent years, the camel business has remarkably grown in the kingdom. There are around 1.8 million camels with a market value of over SR50 billion in Saudi Arabia, according to official figures.
