The Saudi Ministry of industry and mineral wealth issued 130 new industrial licenses during November 2023, distributed over five industrial activities, led by the activity of manufacturing food products with 20 licenses, then the activity of other non-metallic metal products with 16 licenses, then the activity of manufacturing formed Metal Products Except Machinery and equipment with 15 licenses, then the activity of manufacturing rubber and plastics products with 12 licenses, then the activity of manufacturing chemicals and chemical products with 10 licenses.
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 November was 1,257 licenses, while the number of existing factories under construction in the kingdom until the end of the same month reached 11,469 factories, with an investment volume of 1.538 trillion riyals.
He explained that the volume of investments in new licenses for the month of November amounted to 24.3 billion riyals, and small enterprises by facility size accounted for most of the new industrial licenses during the same month by 93.08%, followed by medium enterprises by 6.15%, and large enterprises by 0.77%, while National factories recorded the largest percentage of the total licenses issued by type of investment by 70.77%, followed by foreign enterprises by 20.00%, and enterprises with joint investment by 9.23%.
According to the report of the National Center for industrial and mining information, the factories that started production during last November amounted to 88 factories, with an investment volume of 8.790 billion riyals, led by food factories with 13 factories, then non-metallic metal factories with 11 factories, then metal forming factories with 10 factories, then rubber and plastics factories, chemical factories with 8 factories of each type, while National factories accounted for the total factories that started production by 73.86% by type of investment, followed by factories with foreign investment with 13.64%, and the total share is 12.50%.
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.