Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones "MODON" has signed several contracts and agreements to localize the food and beverage industry in the Kingdom, with total investments amounting to SR1.069 billion, while it revealed that the number of food factories has increased to 1171 with a total area of approximately 10 million square meters by the end of 2022. This came on the sidelines of MODON's participation in the Gulfood 23 exhibition, held in Dubai from February 20-24, where it reviewed its industrial environment, services, and products that enable the localization of food industries to contribute to achieving the Kingdom's food security, per the objectives of the national strategy for industry and the initiatives included in the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) in line with Saudi Vision 2030. Within the framework of its strategy to empower the industry and contribute to increasing local content in vital sectors to diversify the bases of the national economy and to contribute to the localization of 85% of the total demand in the food market in the Kingdom, "MODON" signed an agreement with the Jordan Valley Company for Food Industries "Al-Bayrouty" to establish a factory in the Second Industrial City in Jeddah, on an area of 15,000 square meters, with investments of about SR50 million, for the production of grains and legumes. MODON also signed an agreement with the Kuwaiti Danish Dairy Company (KDD) to invest SR375 million in establishing a factory on an area of 100,000 square meters in Sudair City for Industry and Businesses to produce various food and beverage commodities, as well as a contract for allocating industrial land with Siniora Food Industries Company to establish a factory on an area of 25,000 square meters in the Second Industrial City in Jeddah for the production of frozen and chilled meat, with investments of SR140 million. Moreover, MODON sealed an agreement with the Dose Café company to allocate a ready-made factory of 1,500 square meters in Sudair City for Industry and Businesses to invest SR4 million in the production of food and beverages, in addition to a tripartite agreement with the "Indel" and "Foodics" companies that would stimulate supply chains in the food industry sector by providing technical linkage services between food manufacturers in MODON's industrial cities and the supply chain of restaurants and hospitality in the Kingdom. MODON also signed a contract with IFFCO to allocate new industrial land in Dammam's Second Industrial City for the production of ketchup, mayonnaise, tomatoes, and bread derivatives, as part of the company's plans to expand its current investment activity in the food industries sector, and in implementation of the agreement signed between the two parties in 2022. Recently, "MODON" signed agreements with several specialized companies, including the Arab Seara Food Industries Company, the investment arm in the Middle East and North Africa of the Brazilian "GPS" group, the largest company in the world for the manufacture of meat products and derivatives, as well as with the Alshaya Group, and IFFCO, to support MODON's initiative to establish "food clusters" within the framework of the initiatives entrusted to MODON in the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) to contribute to achieving food security for the Kingdom in line with Saudi Vision 2030. Since 2001, MODON has been developing integrated industrial lands with services, as it currently supervises 36 industrial cities across the Kingdom, including more than 5,000 productive and under-construction factories and supervising private industrial complexes and cities. It is also working on developing and strengthening its investment system per the Quality of Life Program standards to keep pace with its partners' aspirations in the private sector and empower the role of women and small to medium enterprises and entrepreneurship.
