Saudi Arabia: Food Processing Ingredients
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The Saudi food processing sector has been rapidly growing in the past decade, thanks to help from various types of government subsidies to food processing companies, rising per capita income, and major demographic and socio-economic changes. These factors have led to a large increase in the number of Saudi food processing facilities, from 460 firms in 2002 to 732 firms in 2012. Attractive investment conditions have lured some multinational corporations into entering the Saudi market and establishing production facilities. Most Saudi food manufacturers depend on imports to secure their needs of food ingredients and raw materials. In 2014, Saudi Arabia imported about $4.5 billion worth of food ingredients and bulk commodities for further processing. U.S. suppliers provided about 10 percent of these food processing products. Saudi Arabia exports a significant part of its processed food production, estimated at $2.9 billion in 2014.
