Browse Data and Analysis

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) regulations allow the importation of biotech plant products, but they are required to be labeled if they contain more than one percent genetically engineered (GE) plant ingredients. As a result, many retail packed food importers do not import biotech foods due to concerns that biotech labeling could jeopardize their product image. However, Saudi Arabia imports large quantities of biotech U.S. corn, soybeans, and their products.

Saudi Arabia’s barley imports for the first six months of MY 2022/23 (July – Dec. 2022) are estimated at 2.6 million metric tons (MMT), an increase of six percent compared to the same period last year. Post’s current projection for total barley imports for MY 2022/23 is 4.5 MMT, which is a decrease of four percent compared to the USDA official estimate of 4.7 MMT. Unless the price of barley drastically decreases, Post anticipates demand will remain low throughout MY 2022/23.

Saudi Arabia was a 24th largest market ($1.34 million) for U.S. food and agricultural products last year. A return to pre-Covid living and working conditions are invigorating U.S. agricultural exports to the Kingdom in 2022. U.S. Customs data for January – August 2022 shows an 11 percent increase in U.S. agricultural exports to Saudi Arabia compared to the same period in 2021.

U.S. exports of consumer-oriented food products to Saudi Arabia increased by approximately 11 percent in 2019 - to a record high of $588 million.

Saudi barley import tenders for July-September 2020 are 12 percent less than the quantity of barley imported over the same period last year (1.68 million MT vs. 1.91 million MT).

Saudi Arabia privatized two of its four flour milling companies for 740.5 million USD on July 8, 2020. The remaining two are expected to be sold in the next few weeks.

The major export certificates required by Saudi Arabia’s regulatory and import control agencies are included in this Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards (FAIRS) - Report...

In 2019, Saudi Arabia withdrew a draft regulation to establish extremely low upper limits on sugar in a wide range of food products.

Saudi Arabia is a significant market for U.S. food and agricultural products, with direct U.S. exports estimated at $1.39 billion in 2019.