Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Saudi Arabia’s value of date exports in 2021 ranked first globally, according to the TradeMap of the International Trade Center.

Saudi export of dates in 2021 reached 1.2 billion Saudi riyal (about 318.9 billion U.S. dollars).

The Kingdom has also realized the highest annual growth rates of exports over the past five years of 12.5 percent, entering export markets to 113 countries.

The National Center for Palms and Dates, in a statement, stressed that the achievement reflects the interest and care of the wise leadership in enhancing non-oil exports, developing the work system in planting and improving the production of palm, and the leading role of partners, mainly the producers and exporters of dates.

The center noted that Saudi Vision 2030 has placed much attention to the palms and dates sector through its development and sustainability, where it worked early on preparing and implementing programs to develop this sector that increased its contribution to the GDP.

The center also said that efforts focused on integrating exerted national efforts by relevant government institutions and the producers and exporters of dates to develop he value chains, improve the quality and quantity of production, facilitate the exportation procedures, increase the efficiency of marketing dates, encourage investments, provide necessary data and studies, improve the efficiency of supply chains, and boost the human and institutional capacity.

The value of palms and dates in Saudi Arabia was recorded at nearly 7.5 billion riyal Saudi (some 1.9 trillion dollars), or 12 percent of the agricultural gross product and 0.4 of the non-oil gross product.

The number of palm trees amounts to 33 million, representing 27 percent of the total number of palm trees of the world while the number of agricultural possessions in the Kingdom amount to 123,000 pieces.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Reporting by Indonesia Window