
Saudi Arabia Agribusiness, Food & Drink June 2017
Saudi Arabia has one of the largest and most sophisticated food, drink and agribusiness industries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The industry is driven by the Kingdom’s large youth population, relatively high GDP per capita, and rising disposable incomes. The Kingdom’s climate restricts agricultural output from producing levels adequate to meet demand, leaving Saudi Arabia dependent on imports and susceptible to food price shocks. Plans to reduce domestic production of agricultural crops have accelerated rapidly, leaving a potential gap in pro- duction and consumption levels as the economy seeks to balance growing demand with rising food prices and an increasingly unstable food security situation.