Saudi Arabia’s wheat, corn markets to see 5% demand growth in 2025

Published 2025년 2월 28일

Tridge summary

Saudi Arabia is projected to experience a 5% annual growth in wheat and corn demand in 2025, maintaining its position as a key grain market in the Middle East. The country's dependency on imports for these staples, primarily from Europe, the Black Sea, and South America, is expected to increase due to declining domestic wheat production and limited prospects for increasing domestic corn production because of water scarcity. Saudi Arabia is also open to exploring new grain import markets, particularly Ukraine, as it seeks to diversify its suppliers. In 2025, the General Food Security Authority (GFSA) is anticipated to relax its control over grain imports, permitting private flour mills to handle their own imports, which could result in an increase in wheat imports. Saudi Arabia's poultry industry is on track to achieve self-sufficiency by 2025 or early 2026, while it has already been self-sufficient in egg production for over a decade.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Saudi Arabia, one of the key grain markets in the Middle East, is likely to maintain robust domestic growth in 2025, supported by a positive demand outlook, Anis Alam, chief grain buyer at Arabian Agricultural Services Company (ARASCO) told Platts in an interview on Jan. 25. Demand for wheat and corn in the country is expected to grow by 5% a year, Alam said. “Saudi Arabia currently imports about 3.5 million tons of wheat and 5 million tons of corn, which has the potential to grow 5% per year.” Saudi Arabia imports wheat, mainly from Europe and the Black Sea, as domestic wheat production is declining. Alam believes it should be around 500,000-600,000 tons, although some statistics show more than 1 million tons. The country’s wheat production is unlikely to increase in the next few years due to water shortages. “I don’t see any room for improvement in production,” he said. Corn, which is used as livestock feed, is imported, mostly from South America – Argentina and Brazil – and ...

Source: UkrAgroConsult