RIYADH — Eighty new factories have started production in Saudi Arabia during February of the current year 2023 with an invested amount of SR4.3 billion, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (MIM) said. The Ministry revealed that it has issued 85 industrial licenses during last February, noting the investment value in the new licenses amounted to SR1.9 billion. The small enterprises acquired most of the licenses by 85.88%, followed by the medium enterprises by 11.76%, then the micro enterprises by 2.35%. The Ministry stated that the national factories recorded the highest percentage of the total issued permits by 82.35%, followed by the foreign factories by 12.94%, then those with joint investment at 4.71%. The new industrial license was distributed through 9 administrative regions, topped by Riyadh with 37 factories, then Al-Sharqiya with 21 factories, followed by Makkah with 8 factories, Madinah and Al-Qassim with 5 factories, then Asir with 4 factories, Al-Jouf with 3 factories, while one factory for each of Tabuk and Hail. The licenses included several activities, topped with manufacturing formed metal products, except for equipment and machinery, with 18 licenses, then the manufacture of food products with 14 licenses, in addition to the manufacture of rubber and plastic products with 10 licenses. The Ministry indicated that the new factories that started production in February were topped by 30 non-metallic minerals factories, followed by foodstuffs with 12 factories, the 8 factories for formed metal, while there are 5 factories for. rubber and plastic, as well as 4 chemicals factories. It is worth mentioning that the national factories acquired 86.25% of the total factories that started production, followed by the foreign ones with 11.25%, then the joint ventures with 2.5%.
