The number of productive factories in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reached 3, 808 with a total invested capital of SR 306 billion until the end of the first quarter of 2007. These factories employ 415,000 workers, according to statistics received by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The statistics showed that the largest industrial ventures are industries which are manufacturing chemicals and plastic products. These are followed by ceramics, construction materials and textiles and then the factories which manufacture metal products, equipment and foodstuffs. The value of the Kingdom's exports in 2006 reached SR 79 billion of non-oil national industries' products which were exported to more than 120 countries, the statistics showed. "The petrochemical products topped the list of the Kingdom's exports without the crude oil, reaching an amount of SR 24, 089 million in 2006, followed by plastic products with the amount of SR 18, 072 million, ordinary metals (SR 6, 171 million), merchandise (SR 18, 621 million) and re-exported products and merchandise (SR 12, 363 million)," the statistics said. --More
