Saudi Arabia aims to increase seafood output in 2024 to meet increasing domestic demand

Published 2024년 5월 2일

Tridge summary

Saudi Arabia's fisheries department is planning to increase the country's fish output to 230,000 metric tons by 2024 in an effort to reduce the reliance on imports and close the gap between supply and demand. In 2023, fish production in Saudi Arabia rose by 80 percent to 214,600 MT. The government is promoting the development of 16 fishing ports along the coastlines of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, and is encouraging private-sector investment with incentives such as financial support and interest-free loans. The strategy also includes aquaculture, with a focus on high-yield fish breeds and an upcoming project in the city of NEOM.

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Original content

Saudi Arabia’s fisheries department wants to increase fish output in the Middle Eastern country to 230,000 metric tons (MT) in 2024, aiming to bridge the huge gap between the country’s current supply and its demand with more domestic production.According to Hussein Al-Nazari, the head of Saudi Arabia’s fisheries department, fish production in the country has been on the rise, jumping 80 percent year over year in 2023 to 214,600 MT – up from 119,000 MT the previous year.Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia’s fish consumption continues to outstrip the country’s production, forcing the country to heavily rely on seafood imports to plug the deficit.Three years ago, the gap between domestic seafood output and demand was even greater, with production at 99,000 MT while consumption reached 250,000 MT in 2021.Al-Nazari said one of the initiatives to spur growth, led by the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture – under which the fisheries department falls – is to fast-track the development ...

Source: Seafoodsource