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MENA Imports 80% of the Kingdom's Building Materials Exports

Over an area of 1,600 square meters, the Saudi industries were showcased at the international exhibition of building and construction materials "Big 5", which was concluded in Dubai last weekend. The director of marketing and public relations at the Saudi Exports Development Authority, Firas bin Abdulaziz Abal-Khail, said that the private sector companies participating in the Saudi Stand, and offered more than 560 products serving construction and infrastructure sectors.

While the Secretary General of the "SAUDI EXPORTS" Ahmed Al-Hakbani has revealed that the Kingdom's exports of building materials reached SR 10.6 billion in 2013, Aba Al-Khail explained in a statement to the media during the last days of the "Big 5" exhibition, which was concluded on Thursday, November 20the, 2014, that approximately 80% of the total Saudi exports of building materials go to countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Aba Al-Khail pointed out that 1.5% of the total imports by countries of the Middle East and Africa of building materials come from the Saudi Arabia. He added that: "the total world's exports of building materials to the Middle East and Africa are growing by 7% annually, and the total Saudi exports to these countries are growing by 1.2 annually".

Talking about the market size of construction materials imports in the Middle East and Africa for 2013, He confirmed that the two regions imported SR 617 billion over the past year, pointing out that the Kingdom's products find in this active market an opportunity for export. He stressed that the Saudi industries of building materials and construction works became competitive products for what the Middle East and Africa import from countries around the world.

Aba Al-Khail said: "The United Arab Emirates and Turkey have an equal size of their imports of construction materials by 18% for each country. Hence, we emphasize that the Kingdom's exports to these countries have increased each year by positive rates. We are trying to build on this increase in coordination with the strategic partners from government agencies and the private sector, specifically manufacturers, to achieve the best possible use of the growing demand for building materials, especially in Turkey and the UAE.

Abal-Khail said: "We see that Egypt ranked second after Emirates and Turkey scored equally in terms of volume of construction materials imports. The proportion of Egypt's share amounted to approximately 5% of the nearly SR 617 billion riyals, while both Algeria and Nigeria ranked third 4%, followed by Qatar and Morocco 3%, and finally Ethiopia 2%."

The "SAUDI EXPORTS" is seeking to promote exports by national companies, particularly the small and medium size enterprises, through specialized exhibitions. This takes place according to an annual plan of the international exhibitions that will be a suitable platform to promote the Saudi products and highlight their quality. The "SAUDI EXPORTS" offers several services to the participating enterprises, including designing the public Pavilion of the Saudi industries, providing space for each participant plant and shipping the samples. This set of services aims to opening potential markets for export, communicating with existing and prospective customers, and understanding the customers' requirements. This will help them to develop their products and services to fulfill the requirements, and give them an opportunity to get to know competitors and different products. This will assist them in developing their competitive ability, which will lead the Saudi Exports Development Authority to double its participation in the specialized exhibitions for next year 2015. This is because the companies see such exhibitions as the best platform to promote the Saudi products.