Medina dates festival posts SR633m sales

Cairo: An annual festival focusing on palm dates in the Saudi city of Medina has generated more than SR633 million in auction sales, organisers have said.

The three-month Medina Dates Season, which wrapped up this week, attracted more than 215,000 visitors.

A concomitant souq, meanwhile, posted sales of more than SR3 million. Also joining the event were 60 entities active in producing, packing and marketing dates of various types grown by 29,000 farms throughout Medina.

In addition, the Season comprised 13 workshops and introductory meetings attended by 348 entrepreneurs with the participation of 16 speakers, who addressed several topics including artificial intelligence, modern agricultural and advanced irrigation methods.

Medina, home to Islam's second holiest site, attracts millions of Muslims from around the world. The city is also famous for premium grades of dates that are in high demand by visitors.

There are more than 33 million palm trees across the kingdom.

With palm dates being a principal Saudi product, the fruit has recently been transformed into sweet, nutritious tablets proving popular with children. Marketed in several tastes and colours, the tablets are made of ground dates powder with no artificial additives.

The exports of Saudi dates surged by 14% to hit SR1.4 billion last year to a total of 119 countries, according to the National Centre for Palms and Dates.

The sector significantly contributes to several transformational industries including food, medical and cosmetic products as well as fodder.

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the kingdom in transformational industries as part of an ambitious plan to diversify oil-reliant economy.