Saudi dates exports surge to 1.5b tons

Cairo: Global demand for Saudi palm dates have increased, propelling the product’s exports to rise from 579 million tons in 2016 to about 1.5 billion tons in 2024, official figures have shown.

Saudi Arabia boasts about 300 different types of dates, with more than 37 million palm trees producing more than 3 billion tons of dates annually, the Saudi news agency SPA reported, citing the National Centre for Palms and Dates.

The number of factories of date products and processing industries has reached 137.

Al Qassim in central Saudi Arabia tops the kingdom’s regions in terms of date production with more than 578,000 tons and having 10.7 million trees, the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture has recently said.

Ranking second in output was the Riyadh region with about 453,000 tons, followed by Medina with around 343,000 tons, the Eastern Province with about 258,700, Asir in the south-west with about 61,000, and Tabuk in the north west with 55,600.

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 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 its oil-reliant economy.