Coca-Cola in Saudi Arabia Coca-Cola in Saudi Arabia - Olayan Group

Exports
Saudi Arabia
Olayan has shipped diapers to Russia, disposable surgical suits to the
6
to the World
U.S., plastic pipes to Hong Kong, and personal care products to Djibouti.
Even today, at the dawn of the 21st
Century, most people can easily conjure up an
image of ancient camel caravans criss-crossing
Arabia’s desert terrain in a slow but steady movement from
oasis to oasis, transporting goods from east to west and back. So
famous and deeply rooted in history is this scene that it often represents
the nascent point of world trade.
Flash to the present, at any of Saudi Arabia’s gateway airports or seaports,
and the image is much different. Jumbo cargo jets, tractor-trailers, supertankers,
and container ships have long since displaced the caravan. What has not
changed is that the Arabian Peninsula today, like its counterpart of old, is a major
hub of world trade.
In the holds of cargo carriers are not just the hydrocarbons that have long made
Saudi Arabia the world’s largest oil exporting nation, but also several billions of dollars
worth of non-oil exports a year. The volume of these non-oil merchandise exports has
been on the rise. So has their proportion of total Saudi exports. Moreover, with the
recent decline in world oil prices to near historic lows in real terms, exports of Saudimade
goods have taken on national strategic importance.
The Olayan Group is not just doing its part. It stands foursquare in the export torrent.
The goal of the Group has always been to bridge the Saudi, Gulf and global economies.
It has driven commercial and industrial pylons deep into the markets of the Kingdom
and the Gulf. As the Saudi economy has developed, the traffic across this bridge has
become distinctly two-way. The Group is actively promoting Saudi exports at many
of its affiliated companies in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.
Every year, the companies of The Olayan Group together export thousands of
tons of manufactured goods to Gulf countries, the wider Middle East and well
beyond. Key manufacturers contributing to the push appear on the facing
page. The Group also exports services. For example, it recently expanded
its master franchising agreement with Burger King to include not only
the Gulf countries, but also Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria
and Iraq. Olayan-Descon, an industrial maintenance
concern based in Jubail, has won contracts
throughout the Gulf.