The 39th International Agricultural Exhibition “Saudi Argiculture 2022” concluded in the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on the territory of the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center. The exhibition was attended by more than 450 exhibitors from 45 countries including 11 national expositions. The total area of the exhibition is more than 18,000 sq.m. The exhibition is covered by the largest local TV channels Arabia, SkyNews and CNBC Arabia.
Russian Export Center JSC with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation organized a national exposition with a total area of 1,188 sq.m. where 55 domestic manufacturers-exporters of agricultural products presented their products. This is the largest national exposition not only this year, but also for the entire history of the exhibition.
On the first day of the exhibition the Russian exposition was opened by Dmitry Patrushev, Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation; Veronika Nikishina, General Director of Russian Export Center JSC; Sergei Kozlov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The key event was the plenary session “Russia-Saudi Arabia: long-term partnership in the field of mutual trade in agricultural business” according to the results of which it is expected that the export of Russian agricultural products to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will exceed 1 billion US dollars in 2022. The key participants in the plenary session from the Russian side were Sergey Levin, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation; Veronika Nikishina, General Director of Russian Export Center JSC; Maxim Protasov, head of Russian Quality System ANO. From the side of Saudi Arabia were Tariq A.Kh. Al-Qahtani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi-Russian Business Council, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Abdel Hadi Abdullah Al-Qahtani & Sons Group of Companies; Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Ababtain, CEO of First Mills (a large flour milling company); Abdulrahman Al Owais, Head of Commercial Direction, Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) (an investment company); Shehim Mohammed, Director of Lulu Saudi Hypermarkets, Lulu KSA.
Also, as part of the business program of the exhibition, a round table was held “Russian market of organic products: prospects in the KSA market”, as a result of which, representatives of Saudi Arabia expressed interest in purchasing Russian organic products and confirmed the possibility of Russian companies’ membership in local associations and their work in the Saudi Arabia market. In addition, a round table was organized on the topic “Strategies for working in the retail and Horeca segments in the KSA market”.
The key partners of the B2B meetings were the following companies: grain company Aldahra, distributor of products for Horeca Alfa.co, distributor of FMCG products B&S, Goodlivehood, large retailer Carrefour Saudi Arabia, distributor Binzagr group, distributor of organic products Jawavah trading company, retailer Kottouf We Halah.
In addition, it is worth noting that the Russian delegation was the most representative at the Saudi Argiculture exhibition 2022. There were more than 250 delegates. In the first three days of the exhibition, more than 300 B2B meetings were held, the potential of which is estimated at 17 million US dollars. The key partners of the Russian B2B program from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were the following companies: the large agricultural holding Nadec, the Lulu KSA retail chain, the leading flour milling company First Mills, one of the leaders in the production of poultry meat Al-Watania Poultry, the group of companies Abdel Hadi Abdullah Al-Qahtani & Sons Company. More than 50 meetings are planned for the final day of the exhibition.
