Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — A wing of the Ministry of Industry has revealed that Saudi Arabia has more than 16 strategic sectors distributed in 13 regions with 10,138 established factories till the end of July.

The National Center of Industrial and Mining Information, at the ministry, stressed the strategic sectors included a wide range from machinery and equipment factories to pharmaceuticals and construction materials industries.

The center revealed that building materials led the way with 2,016 factories, followed by metal production factories, with 1,705 outlets, food products, with 1,445, plastic/rubber products factories, with 1317, and machine/equipment factories, with 571.

Apart from a growing list of specialized factories in other sectors in the Kingdom, military factories registered the lowest in terms of number of factories with only one factory.

The center revealed that Riyadh region recorded the largest number in the Kingdom with 4,079 factories, followed by the Sharqia region with 2,206 factories, and Makkah region with 1,911 factories.

It also stated that Najran and Al-Baqaa were among the lowest administrative regions in Saudi Arabia in terms of the number of factories, with less than 100 factories in each region.