Saudi Arabia home to 10,000 factories in 16 industrial sectors by July-end: Ministry

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Saudi Arabia’s industrial sector includes more than 16 strategic sectors spread over 13 administrative areas, comprising about 10,140 plants, as of end of July 2021, Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources said in a statement.

The strategic sectors include metal industry, food and plastic products, machinery and equipment plants, specialized chemical industry, basic and intermediate chemicals, automobile factories, oil refining products, as well as pharmaceutical plants, medical supplies factories, renewable energy sources, marine industries, aviation and military industries, and building materials factories.

Under the strategic sectors, building materials factories were the largest in number at 2,016, followed by metal factories at 1,705, food factories at 1,445, plastic and rubber products factories at 1,317, and machinery and equipment factories at 669.

There are a total of 571 specialized chemical factories in the Kingdom, followed by 399 basic and intermediate chemical factories, 169 automobile factories, 122 oil refining products factories, 75 pharmaceutical factories, and 49 medical supplies factories.

Renewable energy sources plants reached about nine, while marine and aviation factories came with four plants each. Military plants were the lowest in the strategic sectors in terms of number of factories, with one plant.

Riyadh region recorded the largest percentage of factories at 4,079, followed by Eastern region with 2,206 factories, Makkah at 1,911, Qassim region with 428 factories, and Madinah with 416 factories.

The Northern Borders, Najran and Al Baha were among the lowest administrative areas in the Kingdom in terms of the number of factories, with less than 100 factories in each region.