Ministry of Industry licenses 208 new factories with SAR 5.6 bln investments in Q4 2021

Logo of Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources

The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources announced that it licensed 208 new factories in Q4 2021, with investments worth SAR 5.562 billion.

According to the fourth-quarter bulletin issued by the National Industrial Information Center (NIIC), the ministry indicated that 231 factories started operations, with investments worth SAR 4.618 billion.

The number of outstanding and under-construction factories in the Kingdom amounted to 10,293 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, with capital estimated at SAR 1.33 trillion, led by the factories that produce non-metallic minerals, and then the factories that manufacture rubber and plastic products.

The national factories dominated more than 85% of the outstanding and under-construction factories in terms of the type of investment, followed by foreign factories with 8%, then joint ventures with 7.3%.

Riyadh came first with the largest number of outstanding and under-construction factories, with around 4,128 factories. It was followed by the Eastern Province with 2,248, then Makkah with 1,988.

Small enterprises represented the majority of factories in the Kingdom with 1,501 in Q4 2021. Medium-sized enterprises came second with 4,361, then the large ones with 831 out of the total existing and under construction facilities.

The number of factories with foreign investments reached 782, or 8% of the total, while joint ventures came in above 7% at 751, out of the total number of plants that reached 10,293.