Market Opportunities in Saudi Arabia

Accompanied by the Danish Ambassador and Invest Saudi, we invite you to explore the market opportunities in Saudi Arabia!

The Confederation of Danish industry, The Danish Trade Council in Riyadh, and Invest Saudi are pleased to invite you to participate in this digital meeting about the market opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

The meeting will start with a plenary session to set the scene for the Saudi market. After the general introduction, there will be break-out sessions to deep dive into each sector with open discussions and presentations of the opportunities, regulations, and incentives present. Eventually, there will be a collective conclusion to connect the dots. 

Highlights of the development in Saudi Arabia

• An economy that has traditionally relied heavily on oil and gas is rapidly diversifying
• Saudi Arabia is welcoming foreign investors by opening up brand new greenfield sectors for investments
• Backed by comprehensive economic reforms specifically designed to help foreign businesses thrive
• A sweeping economic transformation is repositioning a powerful G20 economy on the world stage
• 300+ reforms in the pipeline based on feedback from investors and international institutions - 62 % of these have already been implemented making Saudi Arabia the fastest reformer among the G20 countries according to the World Bank (2019)

Market opportunities in each sector

Healthcare & Life Science

In the coming 5 years, the spending of the healthcare sector will amount to 224 billion USD, which includes public and private healthcare services, medical devices/consumables, pharmaceuticals, and digital health. Due to a large number of young citizens and a rapidly ageing population, the healthcare demand is expected to triple over the next 10 years.

• Private sector participation in many aspects of the healthcare transformation plan implementation
• Increase in all aspects of services, especially home healthcare, long-term care, primary healthcare, and rehabilitation
• Significant room for growth in localization while aligning with the government’s strategy to drive local manufacturing, R&D, and job creation.
• Multiple opportunities to optimize efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare clusters through the implementation of digital health solutions across the Kingdom

Water, Waste Management & Environment

The sectors are identified for privatization and PPPs (public-private partnership) to meet the developing demands and ambitions.

Water opportunities
The water sector plan to build desalination plants with a capacity of 10.2 million m3/d over the next 7 years. Moreover, the current wastewater capacity collected for treatment is planned to increase from 5.6 million m3/d to 11.1 m3/d by 2030. During the past 3 years, three tariffs within electricity and water have increased the demand for water and energy savings.

• Smart water meters & valves
• Electrical motors & pumps
• Commercialization of brine

Waste opportunities
A high population growth and fast urbanization are accelerating the waste generation to reach 52 million tons of total waste annually.

• Municipality solid waste, construction & demolition and agriculture waste
• Industrial, medical, and WEEE (Waste electrical & electronic equipment) waste

Renewable Energy
Saudi is the 11^th largest electricity producer and the 3^rd highest energy-production per capita ranking among the top 20 producers. Renewable energy is set to exceed 30 % of the total energy production by 2030.

• 3 GW of renewable energy projects to build as IPP by 2024. (20GW PV Solar, 7GW Wind, 0.3GW CSP) and a target to reach 58.7GW by 2030
• Wind nacelle housing, blades and tower manufacturing and assembly
• PV cells and modules manufacturing and assembly
• Electrical inverters

Food Processing

The Food and Beverage sector in Saudi Arabia represents 59% of the GCC market where the market grows at a CAGR of 6%. In 2019, the market was 52 billion USD. The food industry is very diverse, and it competes with the surrounding countries in terms of production and consumption. Recently, the kingdom has scanned the market for gaps to fill and importation replacement opportunities to localize with extra incentives for foreign investors to enter the market. The trade value between Saudi Arabia and Denmark in 2018 reached $860 million where the importation from Denmark reached $836 million. The food imports from Denmark is about $331 million which is about 40% of all imports.

Background: Saudi Arabia in numbers

• 59% of the GCC population
• 14% of the Middle East population
• 6% Saudi workforce annual growth
• 58% of population under 30 years old, against a 49.5% global average
• $23,540 GDP per capita in 2018
• 5^th largest GDP per capita in the MENA region
• 2^nd largest GDP per capita among the G20
• 18^th largest economy in the world
• 48% of the GCC economy