CAIRO: Oriental Weavers' local manufacturing facilities began operating at full capacity on Monday, chairman Mohamed Khamis said in a statement. According to a report by Beltone Financial, OW's manufacturing facilities in the US and China had operated normally during the halt in production in Egypt, which will allow the company to meet its export commitments by shifting production to the unused capacity at its facilities abroad. OW said 15 containers were shipped on Feb. 7 to its global clients, Beltone reported, adding that none of the company's employees and assets, including the manufacturing plants and retail showrooms, witnessed any damage throughout the past ten days of demonstrations in Egypt. “While OW is the market leader in Egypt (a market share of around 85 percent), the company derives most of its sales from exports (60 percent of sales as of September 2010). Although we believe that management should be able to meet its export commitments following the full resumption of operations, it is too early to assess the impact of the current situation in Egypt on OW's local sales, at this stage,” Beltone commented. –Daily News Egypt
