By Joey Aguilar/Staff Reporter

Food production in Qatar has crossed another milestone with the opening of a plant last week to repack olive oil and distribute more than 28 Tunisian products in the local market.
Tunisian Prime Minister Al Habib Essid officially inaugurated the new facility at the New Industrial Area in the presence of guests and officials from Qatar and Tunisia.
The Qatar Tunisian Food Company, owned 51% by Mahaseel (a subsidiary of Hassad Food) and 49% by a number of Tunisian companies, has a production capacity of 1,000 tonnes of olive oil annually.
Prime Minister Essid, who was joined by Hassad Food Board of Director and CEO Khalid Mubarak al-Delaimi at the opening, cited the close ties and co-operation between Qatar and Tunisia in all fields.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, he thanked Qatar for funding a special project in his country which started two years ago and now has been benefiting many Tunisians, especially the youth.
The visiting Prime Minister, as well as guests, were taken on a tour of the facility to see how olive oil is processed and how it undergoes different stages of production: from receiving olive oil, storing it in controlled temperature, and then passing through the filtration process. Finally, the product will be packed in special glass bottles that come in different sizes.
The product is tested several times at different stages in the laboratory to ensure the consumer gets the highest quality.
“This expansion will help us to export products to various GCC countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE and we hope to cover others such as Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman,” al-Delaimi noted.
He added that the facility would also help them in bringing better materials and products from Tunisia such as tuna which is already in the Qatar market.
In a press statement, Hassad Food chairman and managing director Nasser Mohamed al-Hajri expressed confidence that QT’s new plant will help supply more olive oil to the market. "The opening of QT’s new plant is a step forward in the field of food packing in Qatar, as it will surely contribute to meeting the need of from olive oil in the market."
He also echoed the statement of the Tunisian Prime Minister saying that his presence at the opening ceremony demonstrated the strong relationship between the two countries.
Hassad Food noted that QT’s operations has expanded and it has started exporting its products to other GCC countries. The company is planning to take its products to European and Asian markets by 2017.
Founded in 2000, QT is one of the leading companies in packing and exporting olive oil in the GCC.