The Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (MIMR) issued in August 2022 its Monthly Bulletin for Industry and Mining covering the first half of 2022, highlighting the latest development in the industrial sector. The bulletin states that 501 industrial licenses have been issued since the beginning of 2022, mainly focused on the manufacturing of steel, food, polymers and chemicals. Saudi Arabia has been accelerating its economic diversification efforts since the dual shock of COVID-19 and low oil prices in 2020.
Although the number of new licenses has declined slightly from the 529 registered in the first half of 2021, the number of factories that commenced operations more than doubled, from 303 to 721, during the same period. Additionally, investments into existing factories or manufacturing plants in Saudi Arabia (10,675 factories) has increased by 42% YOY in H1 2022, reaching around SAR 20 billion ($5.3 billion).
