How is the trade of agricultural products between Saudi Arabia and China?

Saudi Arabia (hereinafter referred to as Saudi Arabia) is located in the Arabian Peninsula, most of which has a subtropical desert climate and is hot and dry in summer. 70% of the area of Saudi Arabia is semi-arid wasteland or low-grade grassland, and the arable land accounts for only 1.5% of the land area. Due to the lack of precipitation in most areas, the development of Saudi agriculture is greatly restricted, the self-sufficiency rate of grain is low, and a large number of imports are needed to meet domestic demand. So how is the trade of agricultural products between China and Saudi Arabia? What kind of development prospects are there?

1.the trade of agricultural products between China and Saudi Arabia

（1）The trade volume fluctuates greatly.

The trade volume of agricultural products between the two countries fluctuated and changed greatly in the past five years, from US $310 million in 2018 to US $560 million in 2022, with a decline in 2020 and 2021 and an increase in other years. Imports increased from US $10 million in 2018 to US $120 million in 2022, of which imports reached US $190 million in 2019, while exports increased from US $300 million in 2018 to US $440 million in 2022, maintaining growth except for a decline in 2021. (figure 1)

Fig. 1 the change of total trade volume of agricultural products between China and Saudi Arabia in 2018- 2022

（2）shrimp is the main agricultural product imported from SA to China.

From 2019 to 2022, shrimp accounted for more than 80% of China's total imports of agricultural products from SA, and even more than 90% in 2019 and 2022. Shrimp imports totaled US $180 million in 2019, the highest in nearly five years.

The second to fourth agricultural products imported in 2022 were sugar materials and sugar, grain products and fruits, accounting for only 4.1%, 0.9% and 0.9% respectively (Table 1).

Table 1 China imports major agricultural products from Saudi Arabia

（3）China's export of agricultural products to Saudi Arabia is concentrated.

China's exports of SA agricultural products are mainly vegetables, fruits, sugar materials and sugar, oil seeds and grain products, with exports of US $118.209 million, US $33.179 million, US $30.071 million, US $28.366 million and US $26.996 million respectively in 2022, accounting for 26.8%, 7.5%, 6.8%, 6.4% and 6.1% of the total exports (Table 2).

Among China's agricultural exports to Saudi Arabia in 2022, the top five agricultural products were tomato (processing), garlic, sunflower seeds, ginger and bee products, with exports of US $39.854 million, US $37.704 million, US $17.865 million, US $15.405 million and US $15.403 million, respectively. And the exports of various products have fluctuated significantly in the past five years (Table 3).

2.Existing problems and prospects for trade in agricultural products

（1）problems in the trade of agricultural products between China and Saudi Arabia

At present, the scale of agricultural trade between China and Saudi Arabia is relatively small, and the total volume of agricultural trade between the two countries accounts for only 0.17% of China's total agricultural trade. China's market share of agricultural products in Saudi Arabia is low. Saudi Arabia, as a big importer of agricultural products, the main countries of its fruit imports are Egypt, Ireland, South Africa and other countries. The proportion of China's fruit exports is far lower than these countries, accounting for 2021 Saudi imports ranked 19th; in terms of vegetable imports, China ranked first but accounted for only 11% in 2021. The import and export categories of agricultural products of the two countries are also few, and the added value is low. China imports a large proportion of shrimp, and exports are mainly vegetables, fruits and other primary processed products, and the trade level needs to be improved.

（2）The Prospect of Agricultural Trade between China and Saudi Arabia

There is much room for the growth of agricultural trade between China and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia launched Saudi Vision 2030 in 2016, which aims to promote economic diversification, improve the business environment, and finally achieve the goal of no longer relying on oil by 2030, thus providing convenience for Chinese enterprises to invest in Saudi Arabia. On February 22nd, China and Saudi Arabia conducted an industrial docking around the further promotion of the "Belt and Road Initiative" initiative and Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030". Both countries indicated that they would promote traditional cooperation such as trade in an orderly manner and jointly promote the construction of a China-GCC free trade area. With the gradual completion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, exchanges between China and Saudi Arabia will be effectively enhanced, and agricultural products from the two countries can be quickly transported to each other's countries.

Source: Agricultural trade promotion