Ashraf AboArafe
According to its annual indicators report for the year 2020 AD, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (MIM) rrevealed that the number of new industrial licenses issued by the ministry to factories during the past year amounted to 903 licenses, with investments amounting to 23.5 billion riyals, while 515 factories started production in the same year.
According to the data of the National Center for Industrial Information, the ministry stated that the Emiratisation plans that it worked on and with the participation of other government agencies during the year 2020 AD contributed to the creation of about 39,404 jobs, with a localization rate of 37%, noting that these numbers came as a result of the various initiatives that support the Ministry to stabilize the sector During the Corona crisis, as the industrial sector is one of the sectors least affected during this crisis.
The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources added in its indicators report for the month of December, that the total number of existing industrial establishments and under construction until the end of December amounted to 9681, compared to 9630 last November, pointing out that 73 new factories were licensed during this month, with the volume of investments. More than 2 billion riyals exceeded, while 30 factories began production processes, while the industrial sector contributed during the same month to creating 2,504 jobs, of which the Saudis accounted for 1,300 jobs.
The ministry detailed the industrial activities in the sector, whose number of factories until the end of last December reached 9681 factories, including 1074 factories for food products, 1268 factories for rubber products, in addition to 1162 factories for formed metal products excluding machinery and equipment, and the number of factories for other non-metallic minerals products reached 1935 factories. The number of factories for paper and its products reached 364 factories, in addition to 323 factories for electrical equipment, as well as 322 factories for unclassified machines, in addition to the metallurgical factories of 477 factories, while the number of chemical factories reached 951 factories, 356 factories specialized in the manufacture of furniture.
It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources issues on a monthly basis the industrial sector indicators, which show the total number of factories in the Kingdom, the volume of industrial investments, as well as the jobs created by the sector, and the ministry recently announced the size of the growth in the industrial sector after the state’s decision to bear the fee for expatriate workers. In industrial establishments, where the sector witnessed a significant growth in the number of industrial establishments and the volume of investment in them.
