The Industrial Bakery project of Oman Flour Mills (OFM) will commence trial commercial production in September this year, according to Manal bint Mohammed al Abdwani, Chairperson of the partly government-owned company.

Construction work on the bakery - the first of its kind in the Sultanate - is currently under way with contractors currently focused on installing the requisite equipment and fittings, the Chairperson stated in the Director's Report on the company's financial performance for the nine months ending March 31, 2011.

Meanwhile, the OFM Group's net profit after tax for the nine months declined to RO 4.989 million against earnings of RO 8.584 million during the corresponding period of the previous year, reported the Oman Daily Observer.

The slump was largely attributable to the prevailing high cost of commodities.