Doing Business In Saudi Arabia - Bna

PROCESSED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
Overview
The Saudi market for processed fruits and vegetables is huge. The growth of
supermarket food sales is helping to broaden the market for this sector, and good
market growth is expected to continue as supermarkets open more outlets in major
cities of the Kingdom. Local production of canned fruit and vegetables has been
increasing in recent years but depends almost entirely on imported ingredients, some
of which are sourced from the United States. The majority of the processed fruits and
vegetables that are labeled, “manufactured in Saudi Arabia” are products that are
actually re-packed in the Kingdom. The insufficient local fruit and vegetable output
and the high costs related to importing them for use in local processing suggest that a
significant demand for processed fruits and vegetables will continue to be met by
imports. Date processing and packaging account for about 60 percent of the total
local processed fruit production.
Year/Description 2005 2006 2007
Total Consumption 498 523 600
Total Local Production 200 209 240
Total Exports 5 5 5
Total Imports 293 309 355
Imports from the U.S. 24 25 26
Value: In millions of U.S. dollars
Source: Trade estimates and U.S. Customs official data
5/13/2008