Bahrain Flour Mills Company is pushing ahead with plans to develop two new state-of-the-art flour mills this year that will have a capacity to produce 600 metric tonnes per day.

Speaking after the company's annual general meeting at the Gulf Hotel yesterday, chairman Yusuf Saleh Al Saleh said they had hoped to put construction of the new mills out to tender last year but put it back to this year.

The new mills will have a 600 metric tonnes ouput per day. This compares with their existing ageing mill which produces 300 tonnes a day and is working at 90 per cent of its capacity, he noted.

'We are looking at an increase in demand of 10pc a year so we need this new facilities which should be up an running in two to three years,' he said.

'This is an investment for the long run and we will be looking to local and regional banks to help us finance the mills.'

The company had a net profit of BD819,112 ($2.2 million) last year against BD702,180 in 2010. The meeting agreed a cash dividend to shareholders of BD496,650 representing 20 per cent of the paid-up capital.-TradeArabia News Service