By the end of 2024 Saudi Arabia’s industrial trajectory had firmly transitioned into the second phase of the National Industrial Development and Logistics Programme (NIDLP), with non-oil activities contributing 55% to the Kingdom’s real GDP. As the industrial ecosystem solidifies its role as a primary engine for job creation, the mining sector has emerged as a critical third pillar in the country’s economy. Its GDP contribution has doubled since the launch of Vision 2030 in 2016 to reach SR136bn ($36.3bn) in 2024.
Structure
The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (MIM), under the leadership of Bandar Alkhorayef, continues to refine the sector’s regulatory architecture to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and formalise the extractive industries. In July 2024, the MIM released updated executive regulations for the Mining Investment Law, reaffirming that all surface and subsurface mineral deposits remain sovereign property, while streamlining licensing procedures for private investors. This regulatory clarity has catalysed activity, with the total number of active mining licences reaching 2435 by March 2025, including 1472 construction material quarry licences and 679 exploration licences. The ministry has also launched the 10th round of exploration licence competitions, covering 13,000 sq km across three mineralised belts rich in strategic minerals including copper, zinc and gold.
Financial support mechanisms have also matured, primarily through the Exploration Enablement Programme, which serves as the sector’s primary funding vehicle. In November 2025 the MIM, in conjunction with the Ministry of Investment, qualified 12 local and international mining companies for the programme’s second wave, covering 38 exploration licences with committed spending of SR664m ($177mm). Participants in the programme benefit from reimbursement incentives of up to SR7.5m ($2m) per licence to de-risk early-stage exploration, provided they meet local spending commitments. Parallel to these regulatory and financial incentives, the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) has significantly expanded the National Geological Database to reduce investment uncertainty. By April 2025 the SGS had released 37 new airborne geophysical maps, bringing the total to 201 and covering 79% of the national survey area. Furthermore, the database now includes detailed surface geochemical survey data for over 30% of the Arabian Shield, providing investors with critical single-element distribution maps to guide key exploration efforts across the region.
Oversight
The NIDLP remains a linchpin of Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation, having firmly transitioned into its second phase of execution which prioritises renewable energy integration and industrial localisation. “Saudi Arabia’s industrial sector is entering a new phase where local manufacturing is not just encouraged but expected,” Najib Al Naim, CEO of Akel Trading and Industrial Co, told OBG. “Building domestic capacity in components, systems, and services strengthens resilience and keeps value creation inside the Kingdom.” By the end of 2024 sectors under NIDLP supervision contributed SR986bn ($262.9bn) to the country’s GDP, representing 39% of the Kingdom’s total non-oil GDP, while non-oil exports from these sectors rose by 13.2% year-on-year to reach SR514bn ($137bn). The programme has also cemented its status as a primary employer, with the total workforce across its sectors reaching 2.4m following the creation of 508,000 new jobs in 2024 alone.
Guided by the National Industrial Strategy (NIS), the ecosystem continues to target 12 strategic subsectors supported by over 140 initiatives. This structured approach facilitated the completion of 1511 new factories in 2024, bringi To streamline investor entry ng the total facility count to 12,589, while a further 2598 factories representing SR166bn ($44.3bn) in capital investment were under construction as of the fourth quarter that year. Meanwhile, in the mining sector, market formalisation efforts have yielded tangible results, with the number of active exploration companies rising from a baseline of just six in 2020 to over 226 by 2024, indicating growing demand and investor confidence.
Localisation targets continue to shape the regulatory landscape, particularly within government procurement. The Local Content and Government Procurement Authority (LCGPA) reported that local content value in non-oil sectors reached SR1.2trn ($327.9bn) in 2024, surpassing the annual target of SR1.1trn ($295.9bn). Concurrently, the General Authority for Military Industries reported that the localisation of military spending reached 24.9% by the end of 2024, advancing steadily towards the country’s 2030 goal of 50%.
Key Government Entities
The Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) remains the primary financial enabler of the NIDLP’s mission to transform the Kingdom into a global industrial and logistics powerhouse. According to the fund’s 2024 annual report, SIDF approved SR12.1bn ($3.2bn) in loans during the year. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were a primary focus, accounting for 80 of the 123 loans approved by the fund, while the engineering industries received the largest share of funding at 76%, followed by consumer industries at 11%. SIDF also had a total investment of SR58.8bn ($15.7bn) in 2024. Complementing this domestic financing, the Saudi Export-Import Bank significantly expanded its operations in 2024, providing SR33.5bn ($8.9bn) in total credit facilities. It marks a 103.2% increase compared to SR16.5bn ($4.4bn) in 2023. The bank’s momentum accelerated into the first half of 2025, with total credit facilities reaching SR23.6bn ($6.3bn) by the end of June that year, a 44% increase over the same period in the previous year.
On the implementation side, the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (MODON) continues to manage infrastructure across 36 industrial cities and oases, actively advancing the Future Factories Programme to modernise and automate 4000 existing facilities. In January 2024, MODON initiated 10 new development projects valued at over SR538m ($143.4m), including contracts for establishing 80 ready-made factories for SMEs in Al Ahsa and Taif. A well-established network of ancillary organisations underpin these core entities, including the Saudi Industrial Development Centre, which launched the National Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Production in 2025 to steer the country’s industrial transformation. Furthermore, the National Industrial Information Centre enhanced market transparency with the launch of new data dashboards in 2025, while the Saudi Standards Authority strengthened its compliance enforcement mandate through updated 2025 import certifications and technical regulations on improved product safety.
Major Players
Government-linked entities continue to anchor Saudi Arabia’s industry and mining sectors amid ongoing diversification efforts. SABIC, the Kingdom’s main petrochemical producer and a global player, maintains 70% ownership by national energy firm Aramco, which itself remains 81.5% controlled by the government. SABIC Agri-Nutrients, rebranded from SAFCO, stays under majority SABIC control at 50.1%, with the rest traded publicly, while Yanbu National Petrochemical Company reflects a similar 51% SABIC stake. Recent expansions, such as SABIC Agri-Nutrients’ acquisition of a 49% interest in ETG Inputs Holdco for SR1.2bn ($319.9m) to bolster African fertiliser distribution, and SABIC’s $3bn-$3.5bn capital expenditure commitment for projects like the Fujian complex, underscore their sustained strategic influence.
In the metals segment, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) has fundamentally reshaped the competitive landscape through consolidation. The Saudi Iron & Steel Company (Hadeed), now fully owned by the PIF, officially announced the completion of its acquisition of Al Rajhi Steel Industries on July 10, 2024, boosting local content participation in the steel segment. “Saudi Arabia’s industrial expansion and Vision 2030 mega-projects are driving sustained demand for domestically produced steel, particularly long products like rebar that underpin construction and infrastructure development,” Sharjeel Azhar, CEO Al Ittefaq Steel, told OBG. “Local steel manufacturers have a critical role in ensuring stable supply and quality while contributing to national value-chain integration and import substitution.”
Similarly, the government-owned mining firm Ma’aden has moved to consolidate its position within the sector. In mid-2025, Ma’aden completed the acquisition of Alcoa’s 25.1% stake in their joint ventures, securing 100% ownership of its integrated aluminium assets. Furthermore, Ma’aden acquired a 20.6% stake in Aluminium Bahrain from SABIC in February 2025 to create a regional aluminium entity. Internationally, Manara Minerals, a joint venture between Ma’aden and the PIF, advanced its strategy to secure critical mineral supplies, entering late-stage negotiations in January 2025 to acquire a minority stake in Pakistan’s Reko Diq copper-gold project.
Parallel to these government-led initiatives, the private sector demonstrated robust activity. Sipchem and Advanced Petrochemical Company (APC) continue as leading privately-owned petrochemical firms, with Sipchem administering plant upgrades at affiliate Al Waha and APC reporting strong third quarter-2025 performance driven by new polypropylene plants. In the steel sector, Al Ittefaq Steel Products launched a green steel line in December 2024, while Al Yamamah Steel signed a SR176.5m ($47.1m) contract in November 2025 for steel towers in a 380-KV transmission project. Meanwhile, Al Masane Al Kobra Mining (AMAK), the Kingdom’s largest private mining firm without government ownership, accelerated its expansion in 2025 by securing 25 explorations licences and a gold ore mining licence for the Khutainah site in the Najran region.
Size & Performance
According to NIDLP’s 2024 annual report, non-oil activities contributed 55% to real GDP, while non-oil exports surged to SR514bn ($137bn). “Saudi Arabia’s industrial sector is entering a period of tangible expansion marked by rising factory openings and strong investment flows that extend the Kingdom’s economic base beyond hydrocarbons,” Saleh Al Solami, CEO of NIDC told OBG. “This momentum reflects our collective efforts to secure globally competitive supply chains and grow high-value manufacturing while creating broader employment and export opportunities.” The industrial ecosystem proved a vital engine for employment, with the creation of over 500,000 new jobs in 2024. The Saudi Central Bank reported that manufacturing expanded by 7.6% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2024, outpacing the broader non-oil economy’s 4.7% growth. Meanwhile, the mining sector’s contribution to GDP rose by 5% in 2024, underlining its expanding economic footprint.
Petrochemicals
According to the 2024 integrated annual report from SABIC, the Kingdom’s total petrochemical production volume reached 53.9m tonnes in 2024, with SABIC itself accounting for the majority of this output at 35.6m tonnes. While production volumes remained strong, export values reflected broader market dynamics; the NIDLP reported that chemical industry product exports amounted to SR78.5bn ($20.9bn) in 2024. This figure represented 25.5% of the Kingdom’s total non-oil exports, although it marked a 2.8% decrease compared to the previous year, reflecting broader cyclical trends in global commodity markets.
SABIC, acting as the sector’s bellwether, reported a slight decline in revenue of 1% to SR140bn ($37.3bn) in 2024, down from SR141.5bn ($37.7bn) in 2023. However, the company successfully reversed its profitability trajectory, posting a net income of SR1.5bn ($410.6m) in 2024, a significant 155% improvement from the net loss of SR2.8bn ($738.5m) recorded in 2023, which had been partially driven by discontinued operations. Geographically, SABIC’s revenue stream remains diversified, with Asian markets accounting for a substantial share; China contributed 18% and the rest of Asia 22%, while Europe and the Americas accounted for 20% and 12% respectively. Meanwhile, domestic sales in Saudi Arabia made up 13% of the total revenue, according to 2024 reports, underscoring the importance of local industrial demand within the Kingdom.
Performance across other listed entities was mixed, however, highlighting divergent operational realities. Yanbu National Petrochemical Company (Yansab) achieved a notable recovery, with revenue rising to SR6.2bn ($1.6bn) in 2024 from SR4.5bn ($1.2bn) in 2023, enabling the firm to swing from a loss to a net profit of SR420.3m ($112.1m). Conversely, Advanced Petrochemical Company faced a challenging environment, with revenue dropping to SR2.2bn ($583.9m) in 2024 from SR2.4bn ($631.9m) in the preceding year, resulting in a net loss of SR259m ($69m).
Beyond financials, the sector is pivoting from basic chemicals towards higher-value downstream products, such as specialty chemicals and advanced polymers. Saudi Arabia now operates the world’s largest carbon capture and purification plant, capable of capturing 500,000 tonnes of CO annually for reuse as feedstock. Major players like SABIC and Aramco are also channelling new investment into blue and green hydrogen and ammonia production, aligning the petrochemicals value chain with decarbonisation trends on the global level.
Mining & Metals
An intensified focus on resource identification and value chain integration drove total sector exploration spending to SR1.1bn ($280m) in 2024, a substantial commitment to unlocking the Kingdom’s estimated SR9.4trn ($2.5trn) mineral wealth. Regulatory reforms have effectively formalised the market, evidenced by a dramatic increase in the number of active exploration companies, which rose over 36-fold between 2020 and 2024 to exceed 226 active companies. “Saudi Arabia’s mining sector is evolving from resource extraction into an integrated industrial value chain,” Hamad Al Sourayia, CEO of United Mining Industries, told OBG. “Linking mineral production with downstream manufacturing is how we turn natural resources into long-term economic strength.” The sector’s expanding economic footprint is clear, with its GDP contribution having doubled since the launch of Vision 2030 to reach SR136bn ($36.3bn) in 2024. Furthermore, employment in the mining and quarrying sector swelled to 218,088 individuals by the first quarter of 2025.
The national mining company, Ma’aden, delivered robust performance and strategic consolidation in 2024, with revenue totalling SR32.5bn ($8.7bn), primarily driven by higher sales volumes and firmer prices for gold and phosphate, which translated into a strong SR2.9bn ($765m) net profit. It also plans to invest $110bn into the sector over the next decade. The company’s operational results included the production of 495,000 oz of gold and 9.3m tonnes of phosphate products, alongside 3.1m tonnes from its Aluminium Business Unit. In January 2026 Ma’aden announced that over eight weeks it discovered 8m oz of gold across four sites, including the Mansourah-Massarah mine.
Among private entities, AMAK accelerated its expansion with revenue, climbing to SR781m ($208m) and net profit rising to SR178m ($47.5m) in 2024. In the Kingdom’s steel sector, the newly consolidated market saw Al Yamamah Steel Industries achieve a SR223.9m ($59.7m) gross profit on revenue of SR2bn ($522.5bn) in 2024, successfully recovering from prior-year losses. Conversely, specialist producers like Molan Steel reported a net loss of SR7.1m ($1.9m) in 2024, highlighting the variable performance across the different subsectors in the industry.
Industry
The MIM accelerated industrial capacity building in 2023, issuing 1379 new factory licences representing a capital investment exceeding SR81bn ($21.6bn). This brought the total number of industrial units to 11,549, leading to the employment of over 1.5m people by the fourth quarter of 2024, including 404,875 Saudi nationals. Consequently, the manufacturing sector’s GDP recorded growth of 4% in 2024.
Momentum continued to carry into the first half of 2025 with the issuance of 585 new licences attracting SR13.5bn ($3.6bn) in investment. Warehouse occupancy rates hit 98% in Riyadh and 97% in Jeddah, due to demand for modern, high-quality facilities across logistics and industrial sectors.
The PIF has aggressively advanced its industrial champions programme, particularly within the automotive and technology spheres. In January 2025, the electronics and industrial conglomerate, Alat, completed a strategic $2bn investment in Lenovo to establish a regional manufacturing hub for PCs and servers. Concurrently, the automotive cluster in King Abdullah Economic City saw major milestones; the PIF and Hyundai Motor Company held the ground-breaking ceremony for their joint venture plant in May 2025, which aims to produce 50,000 vehicles annually starting in 2026. Domestic electric vehicle brand Ceer also progressed significantly, commencing the installation of major process equipment in 2025, with validation builds scheduled for early 2026. These developments align with the ministry’s long-term objective to expand the industrial base to 36,000 factories by 2035, targeting a local industrial output of SR1.4trn ($373.3bn).
Investment & Incentives
In May 2025, the launch of the Advanced Manufacturing and Production Centre marked a pivotal step in catalysing industrial transformation in regions across the country. Serving as a nucleus, the centre unifies existing strategic initiatives – including the Future Factories Programme and the Industrial Beacons Programme – to integrate Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies across the manufacturing base. “Policy measures such as the abolition of expatriate labour fees are strengthening cost competitiveness across Saudi Arabia’s manufacturing base, enabling producers to scale operations and reinvest in automation and advanced technologies”, Ahmed Bayoumi, CEO of Berain Water told OBG.
This consolidation is complemented by the second phase of the Standardised Industrial Incentives Programme, initiated by the MIM in June 2025. By offering direct financial grants covering up to 35% of total investment values, capped at SR50m ($13.3bm) per qualified project, the programme targets strategic import-substitution sectors such as aviation, medical devices and maritime industries.
Efforts to secure domestic supply chains have yielded tangible results through the Wafrah programme, which successfully drove a 40% increase in local polypropylene consumption, thereby enhancing the utilisation of existing domestic capacities to 27%. Looking ahead, the programme is also working with the Ministry of Energy to add 20 new materials to its portfolio by the end of 2025, which will significantly impact downstream industries. This move directly supports the objective to quadruple the output of specialty chemicals, a vital component to the economy.
In the mining sector, the government’s push to lower entry barriers has attracted substantial capital commitment, with total exploration spending across eight licensing rounds reaching SR1.2bn ($320m) by 2024. To sustain this inflow, the ministry launched a five-year royalty holiday for new extraction projects to reduce upfront operational costs. Furthermore, investors in mid-to-downstream mineral processing are now eligible for a 30% discount on industrial land fees within dedicated mining areas, a policy designed to encourage the localisation of high-value processing activities.
International Investment
International confidence in the Kingdom’s industrial trajectory has clearly translated into significant and robust capital inflows, with net FDI reaching SR119bn ($31.7bn) in 2024, up from SR96bn ($25.6bn) the previous year. This momentum continued to accelerate into the second quarter of 2025, where FDI inflows recorded a 15% year-on-year increase to reach SR22.8bn ($6.1bn). Manufacturing also emerged as a primary beneficiary, attracting SR35bn ($9.3bn) of these flows, with countries such as France, the Netherlands, UAE and the US leading as key source markets. Within the NDLP’s sectors, private investment has demonstrated a clear and consistent upwards trend, climbing from SR456bn ($121.6bn) in 2022 to SR665bn ($177.3bn) by the end of 2024.
A pivotal driver of this engagement has been the Regional Headquarters Programme, established with the aim to position the Kingdom as a major business centre. Since its enforcement in January 2024, the initiative has successfully anchored over 600 multinational corporations in Riyadh by the second quarter of 2025, surpassing the initial target of 500. New entrants, including major international financial institutions like Morgan Stanley, are leveraging 30-year tax relief packages to localise their executive decision-making capabilities within the Kingdom.
Parallel to attracting foreign capital, the government has intensified its efforts to deepen domestic value retention. The LCGPA reported that the share of local content in government contracts rose to 47% by the third quarter of 2024, up significantly from 33% in 2020. The economic impact of these new policies is substantial, with the total value of local content projects reaching approximately SR800bn ($213.3bn) and the addition of 1100 new products to the mandatory national procurement list. Complementing these structural shifts, the Human Resources Development Fund invested SR7.7bn ($2.1bn) in 2024 to upskill the workforce, which facilitated the employment of 437,000 Saudi citizens in the private sector.
Outlook
The horizon for Saudi Arabia’s industrial and mining sectors is defined by a transition from rapid, volume-based expansion to a phase of strategic consolidation and resilience. While the fourth Future Minerals Forum held in January 2025 demonstrated momentum – yielding SR107bn ($28.5bn) in deals, including a landmark minerals joint venture between Aramco and Ma’aden – the Kingdom is actively recalibrating its approach to address emerging global trends, thus enhancing its long-term resilience.
The trajectory faces pressure from elevated interest rates in markets around the world, a trend that has prompted a shift in the PIF’s investment strategy towards greater levels of fiscal discipline and a prioritisation of sectors offering quicker returns. Simultaneously, the exposure to international supply chain fragility is driving a pivot towards vertical integration. This is evident in the Kingdom’s consolidation of domestic assets, such as Ma’aden’s buyout of its aluminium partners, and the localisation of industrial inputs through initiatives like the Wafrah programme. To mitigate geopolitical risk, the sector is employing strategic hedging; for example, Ma’aden’s international arm, Manara Minerals, is securing copper and lithium assets across the “Super Region” of Africa and Central Asia, thereby establishing resilient trade corridors independent of traditional pinch points.
Despite these challenges and changing realities across the globe, the sector’s long-term growth is set to be sustained by its competitive advantage in pursuing green energy feedstock and strong sustained institutional support for a variety of different industrial projects. This growing edge continues to attract important high-value capital commitments, such as the Essar Group’s $4.5bn green steel plant in Ras Al Khair. This maturation of strategy indicates that while the phase of “growth at all costs” has concluded, a more durable and sustainable economic framework has emerged in Saudi Arabia, underpinning the IMF’s projected 4% growth forecast for the country’s economy in 2026.
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