Food Processing in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has formulated a comprehensive plan to attain food securityFood security by relying on its own resources. The core objective is to enhance self-sufficiencySelf-sufficiency by increasing the domestic productionProduction and processingProcessing of food, aiming to localize 85% of the food processingProcessing by the year 2030. The major food industryIndustry sectors in Saudi Arabia are represented in grain storageStorage, wheatWheat milling and bakingBaking industryIndustry, dairyDairy industryIndustry, datesDates industryIndustry, red meatRed meat, poultryPoultry, and seafoodSeafood IndustryIndustry, and cold chainCold chain infrastructure. The available silos storageStorage capacities of wheatsWheat is 3.45 million metricMetrics ton. The bakery sector is experiencing annual growth of 5–7% due to the breadBread segment, which constitutes 50% of the market. The dairyDairy industryIndustry in Saudi Arabia is more capital intensive with a dairyDairy market valued at USD 5726.4 million in 2020. Saudi datesDates accounts for 11.5% of global productionProduction making it a suitable market for exportsExport. Saudi Arabia recently ranked first (worldwide) in dateDates exportsExport in 2021 in terms of value reaching 1.2 billion Saudi riyals. In 2021, Saudi Arabia has reached a level of 30% self-sufficiencySelf-sufficiency in the red meatRed meat sector and 65% self-sufficiencySelf-sufficiency in domestic poultryPoultry productionProduction. The country intends to boost its food securityFood security by increasing self-sufficiencySelf-sufficiency even more, in alignment with the National IndustrialIndustrial Development and Logistics Program of VisionVision 2030. There is a high demand for cold chainCold chain facilities during Hajj and Ramadan as storageStorage facilities usually witness maximum capacity utilization during this period. The food exporters to Saudi Arabia make an effort to adhere to the regulationsRegulation of importing food set by SFDASaudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA). They ensure proper labeling and preregistration of their products to minimize the chances of being rejected at the ports of entry in Saudi Arabia. The SFDASaudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) has established a halal foodHalal food center which offers a range of services, including the issuance of certificates for halal foodHalal food products. The Saudi Arabian food sector is receiving significant investmentsInvestment as the country aims to enhance its food securityFood security. By 2021, the Kingdom has received approximately US$ 59 billion worth of investmentsInvestment in its food industryIndustry.