Saudi Arabia’s exports of dates to the global market have significantly increased due to growing demand, reaching 1.5 billion tonnes in 2024, according to the National Centre for Palms and Dates, as cited by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) yesterday.
This is a sharp increase from 2016’s exports, which recorded 579 million tonnes.
Saudi Arabia has over 123,000 agricultural holdings producing around 300 varieties of dates.
The centre noted that the kingdom is home to more than 37 million palm trees, producing over three million tonnes of dates annually.
It added that over 137 factories in the country specialise in date products and related industries.
Regionally, Al-Qassim has 11.2 million palm trees, Madinah 8.3 million, Riyadh 7.7 million and the Eastern Province 4.1 million.
In August, the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture announced that the kingdom had achieved a self-sufficiency rate of 124 per cent for dates, with annual production exceeding 1.6 million tonnes.