Saudi Arabia’s food and beverage sector books 6.3% growth in H1 2022
Saudi Arabia’s food and beverage sector increased 6.3
percent in the first half of 2022, according to the Kingdom’s Small and Medium
Enterprises Authority, also known as Monsha’at.
Small and medium enterprises have made the sector even more
attractive for investors, as $187 million were invested in the Kingdom’s
F&B startups in the first half of 2022, according to research firm
MAGNiTT’s Saudi Arabia Venture Capital report.
Foodics, one of Saudi Arabia’s leading startups in the
F&B space, spearheaded the investment growth in the second quarter of 2022,
raising $170 million in April from Saudi, Dutch and Indian investors.
The food app and delivery markets are also seeing huge
growth as they were valued at $511 million in 2021 and are expected to grow by
10 percent annually through 2026.
The Kingdom has been betting big on diversifying its
economy. With the rise of an entrepreneurial generation, the government aims to
attract 100 million visitors annually through the F&B sector by 2030.
Bandr bin Abdullah Alobied, deputy governor for strategy at
Monsha’at, said in a statement that despite being one of the most competitive
industries, F&B is booming in the Kingdom because of good disposable
income, a diverse palate and new cultural outlets.
The Jazan province alone has over 330km of coastline, 1,985
coffee farms and 340,000 coffee trees. It grows 2,040 tons of green coffee
beans per year.
Recognized as one of the Kingdom’s national treasures, the
Khawlani coffee bean has seen a 70 percent increase in production over recent
years.
A Public Investment Fund company, the Saudi Coffee Co., is
also joining in to boost growth as it plans to invest $319 million in
sustainable coffee production over the next 10 years.
.jpg)
