Qatar's biggest retailer, Al Meera Holding and Turkish construction material and home decor giant, Tekzen have signed a strategic cooperation agreement.
As part of the agreement, Al Meera Holding will make purchases worth $100 million from Tekzen in the first year.
Elaborating on the cooperation deal, Tekzen Chairman and CEO Murat Gigin said they are Turkey's first home decor store and have projects in and outside the country, one of which is in Qatar. "We have been working with Qatar for 13 years now. We have so far finished projects worth $3.5 billion. We have got $3 billion in additional businesses. Today we are here for a union arising from this relationship," he said.
He added that Al Meera Holding's 74 percent is publicly traded. It has a turnover of over $1 billion. Emphasizing that it controls 30 percent of Qatar's food market, Gigin said Al Meera operates in the food sector with 52 stores in Qatar and four in Oman. "It is looking to enter the non-food segment," he said. Gigin said that they were targeting a commercial volume of $100 million in the first year in 5,000 different products from almost 1,000 suppliers in the non-food category. Al Meera Holding Deputy CEO Salah Al-Hammadi said they are the biggest hypermarket chain in Qatar with growth targets in both Qatar and other markets, as well as stores in Oman.
"Oman accounts for 5 percent of our turnover. We aim to double our presence in Oman in the coming years. It is very important to increase trade and develop cooperation with Turkey. We bring very high-quality Turkish products to Qatar at a competitive price. Turkish business people are very dynamic and easy to communicate with," Al-Hammadi continued. Al-Hammadi pointed out that the people of Qatar are very pleased with Turkish products, noting that following the embargo, sales of Turkish brands in the markets increased by 80 percent and that the people of Qatar favor the taste and quality of Turkish products.
