Arab News, Wednesday, Jan 04, 2023 | Jamadi Al Thani 11, 1444
Saudi Arabia’s new industrial licenses rise 5.1% in November
Saudi Arabia:
Industrial projects worth SR7.2 billion ($1.9 billion) were approved by Saudi
Arabia in November as the Kingdom signed off on 82 new licenses – a
month-on-month rise of 5.1 percent, according to the National Industrial and
Mining Information Center.
The number of permits issued in November 2022 is
14 more than were awarded in the same month a year earlier.
Small enterprises acquired 85.3 percent of the new
industrial licenses, followed by medium enterprises at 12.2 percent, and then
micro enterprises with 2.44 percent.
The new licenses are distributed across six
industrial activities, including food products, non-metallic mineral products,
then manufacturing of shaped metals except for machinery and equipment.
The other activities were paper and paper
products, clothing, and the manufacturing of chemicals and chemical products.
In addition to this, the number of existing
factories in the Kingdom until the end of the same month reached 10,742, with
investments amounting to SR1.4 trillion.
Some 50 factories started production during the
month of November, with an investment volume of SR830 million, topped by
non-metallic minerals with 11 plants, followed by food with 10, and then
chemicals with six.
Rubber and plastics, base metals, and metal came
after with four factories per category.
National factories accounted for 90 percent of
those that started production, followed by foreign-owned facilities with 6
percent, and joint enterprises with 4 percent.
The report also revealed that the new industrial
licenses were distributed among 10 regions including Riyadh, the Eastern region,
Makkah, Madinah, Asir, Qassim, Jizan, Hail, Al-Jawf, and Najran.
According to the report, the total number of
industrial licenses issued by the ministry from the beginning of 2022 until the
end of November amounted to 885.