Danube plans Dh40 million plant expansion

Danube is also expecting Dh2 billion sales in 2014

Dubai — Danube Group is planning a nearly Dh40 million expansion of its Alucopanel plant in TechnoPark, and more than 30 new showrooms in the next two years, managing director Anis Sajan told Khaleej Times at The Big 5 exhibition, which concludes today.

Danube is also expecting Dh2 billion sales in 2014, Sajan said, adding: “We grew 20 per cent last year and again maintaining the same growth this year. We are ahead of our target as of now.”

Danube has been participating in The Big 5 exhibition for the last couple of years. Talking about this year’s participation, he said: “Big 5 is the best exhibition to showcase the building material products. This exhibition gives us an opportunity to interact with potential customers and strengthen our brand image in the building material industry.”

This exhibition is mainly B2B (business to business) event but there also a few B2C (business to consumer) activity, he said, adding: “So it’s 70 per cent B2B and 30 per cent B2C.” It is also the most appropriate time to announce new products, he said, adding that Alucopanel is one of the new products Danube is showcasing at the exhibitions.

He informed that three months ago, Danube started production of Alucopanels at its factory in Dubai’s TechnoPark. The facility is spread over an area of 25,000sqf and established with an investment of $5 million, or Dh18.5 million, and capacity of 100,000sqm per month. The factory is working at full capacity and Danube is exporting products to Middle East, Africa and Russia, he said, adding: “Saudi Arabia is our biggest market. We are awaiting Civil Defence approval and then we will start selling in the UAE market.”

“The approval is expected next month and after that the production line will be doubled by expansion to meet local demand. We already have space for expansion and there will be more than $10 million investment on the additional production facility. It will increase the production to 200,000sqm,” he explained.

Citing a few fire incidents in the UAE, he said: “Our raw material is less hazardous to human being and its make sure the fire doesn’t spread immediately to whole building. Our Alucopanel is tested and complies with ASTM E84 (class A) as per new rules and regulations from Dubai Civil Defence.”

Danube Building Material is also showcasing a lot of new products at this year’s ‘The Big 5’ Exhibition. “We have altogether 25,000 products but we cannot bring all products at the exhibition. But we are launching some new and important products,” he said. Danube also introduced Milano’s two types of water heaters – storage water heater and instant water heater. “Instant water heaters are very popular in Africa and we also have gas water heater, which is specially for Iran market. A new massage bath tub worth Dh10,000 was also launched at the exhibition.”

In addition to that Danube is showcasing a new bathroom vanity with an entirely new look while providing more storage space and perhaps more counter space as well. Established in 1993 as a small trading firm, Danube Building Materials has grown into one of the largest building materials company in the region that provides more than 25,000 products in stock and in-house value-added services in all of its multiple set of showrooms across the region and India.

Danube has also started its new concept of franchise business. “We cannot go everywhere so it’s a new concept at Danube and we are looking at Africa and India for this,” Sajan said. Danube Group has its retail arm of Danube Home and most of them are in Dubai. “We will launch our first Danube Home store in Sharjah next month. Another Big store in Saudi Arabia is coming soon,” Sajan added. “Today we have 42 showrooms and in the next two years and we are targeting 75 stores.”

• abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com