American textile manufacturer West Point Home has opened a new spinning facility in Bahrain. This will increase the company’s spinning capacity in Bahrain by 38 per cent. The $9 million investment marks West Point Home’s third expansion in Bahrain over the past five years. For West Point Home, investing and expanding in Bahrain has been an ongoing activity. The company has invested some $160 million over the last 10 years in this part of the world and the products produced here generate over 50 per cent of its total global revenues annually.

The tariff preference level allowed West Point and other textile manufacturers in Bahrain to import certain support materials, such as yarn, and export finished goods into the US duty free.

But in 2016 this facility expired. So West Point undertook work on the spinning plant to offset costs resulting from the end of the facility. By spinning more yarn in Bahrain, the company hopes to decrease lead times and increase flexibility. It will also effectively allow it to build on what is already over 100 million dollars of exports annually from Bahrain to the US as well as expand its ability to further sales in other regional and international markets like the GCC and European markets.