Industrial sector's local content to rise in 2024: Alkhorayef

Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef

Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef said that the percentage of local content in the Saudi industrial sector is expected to soar in 2024, as the level of demand with major companies of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and mega projects, including ROSHN, Qiddiya and The Red Sea, is on the rise.

The industrial sector’s local content has seen significant growth, Alkhorayef told Argaam during the Local Content Award. He noted that new products from several industries will enter the markets this year, which will greatly boost the local content level.

The minister added that the Local Content & Government Procurement Authority is focusing on increasing the volume of coverage of local content and not just the percentage, indicating that the local content law was initially emphasized on tenders and procurement worth over SAR 100 million. It later catered to those valued at more than SAR 50 million and then SAR 25 million, and now SAR 5 million in the services sector, which provides greater opportunities to expand the scope of local content.

The volume of local content procurement currently exceeds SAR 380 billion. There are opportunities for localization and creation of local content. The mandatory list contains more than 800 products, and more than 5,000 factories have benefited from these products, according to Alkhorayef.

The minister also highlighted that heavyweight companies such as Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Maaden), stc, and Saudi Electricity Co. constitute the lion’s share of local content procurement. He indicated that these companies have their own programs to support local content, such as Aramco's Iktva program and SABIC's Nusaned program.