The Saudi Ministry of industry and Mineral Resources issued 53 new industrial licenses during the month of April 2023, distributed over seven industrial activities, led by the activity of manufacturing food products with 9 licenses, then the activity of manufacturing mixed metal products and other nonmetallic metal products with 8 licenses each, while the activity of manufacturing base metals, the activity of making paper and its products, the activity of rubber and plastics products, and the activity of collecting, treating and delivering water recorded 4 licenses for each activity.
The report issued by the National Center for industrial and mining information of the ministry indicated that the total number of industrial licenses issued by the ministry since the beginning of this year until the end of April reached 385 licenses, while the number of existing factories under construction in the kingdom until the end of the same month reached 10,873 factories, with an investment volume of 1.440 trillion riyals.
The report stated that the volume of investments in new licenses for the month of April amounted to 5.8 billion riyals, and small enterprises accounted for most of the new industrial licenses during the same month by 94.34%, followed by medium-sized enterprises by 5.66%, while National factories recorded the largest percentage of the total licenses issued by type of investment by 66.04%, followed by foreign enterprises by 11.32%, then enterprises with joint investment by 22.64%.
The report of the National Center for industrial and mining information showed that the factories that started production during last April amounted to 14 factories, with an investment volume of 155 million riyals, led by rubber and plastics factories with 4 factories, then with two factories for the paper industry, non-metallic metals, wood, and formed metal factories, while the National factories accounted for the total factories that started production by 85.71%, followed by both joint factories and factories with foreign investment by 7.14%. It is noteworthy that the Ministry of industry and mineral resources, through the National Center for industrial and mining information, issues on a monthly basis the most important industrial indicators that clarify the nature of industrial activity in the kingdom, in addition to revealing the size of the change witnessed by the sector in new industrial investments and factories that have started production.