Deals worth $800m signed at largest-ever Saudi Agriculture exhibition

Agreements worth more than SR3 billion ($800 million) were signed at a four-day gathering focused on food and agriculture in Riyadh.

The Saudi Agriculture exhibition 2023 ran from Oct. 23 to 26, and saw more than 410 exhibiting companies from over 40 countries attend.

The event encompassed three specialized exhibitions – focused on food packaging, agri-food, and aquaculture, respectively – and saw the signing of 16 agreements and three memorandums of understanding, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The 40th session of the exhibition recorded the largest number of visitors throughout its history, with businessmen, industrialists, and local, regional and international experts in attendance, alongside wholesalers, exporters, importers, and other stakeholders.

The SPA report noted that the signings of the MoUs represent “an important step to enhance agricultural development and encourage investment in this important sector, and an opportunity to achieve self-sufficiency, enhancing food security, and diversifying sources of income in the Kingdom in accordance with the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.”

The largest national pavilion belonged to the Netherlands, which highlighted Dutch expertise in areas such as greenhouse agriculture, smart farming, and irrigation systems.

Other countries to be represented at the exhibition included China, India, and Thailand, as well as Spain, Turkey, and Georgia.

Amongst the agriculture developments on display were incubator and nursery technologies, vertical and hydroponic farming technologies, and industry specific robots.

“Visitors expressed great admiration for the various activities of the exhibition, where specialized workshops were presented with the participation of experts and specialists from various countries of the world, in dialogue sessions and workshops that dealt with vital areas related to modern agricultural industries, systems and practices, in addition to discussing ways to achieve food security and sustainability,” said the SPA report.

Increasing Saudi Arabia’s food security is a key priority for the Kingdom.

In September, Ahmed Osilan, the managing director and executive board member at Tanmiah Food Co., said that Saudi Arabia is on the cusp of achieving breakthroughs in the production of vital crops which could open up new trade markets for the Kingdom.

His company is particularly focused on cultivating corn and soybeans in Saudi Arabia as these are needed for poultry feed, which in turn would boost the Kingdom’s hatching egg industry.

“We’re one step away from achieving the highest level of food security,” he said at the time.