ME’s largest SR1.2bn sugar factory to come up in Jazan

Abdul Khaleeq Saeed, chairman of the board of directors at Al-Reef Sugar Refinery, signs a contract in Jeddah to set up a sugar refinery at a cost of SR1.2 billion in Jazan Economic City.

Saudi Industrial Development Fund GM Abdul Karim Ibrahim Al-Nafea has signed a contract to establish the largest sugar refinery in the Middle East at a cost of SR1.2 billion in Jazan Economic City.
The project will be implemented in partnership with a company, and the fund will support the project with SR840 million representing 75 percent of its value, with the partners paying the amount of SR300 million. The repayment of the loan is to begin in 1441H for 20 years.
Abdul Khaleeq Saeed, chairman of the board of directors at Al-Reef Sugar Refinery, revealed at a press conference in Jeddah, which was reported by a local newspaper, that his company contacted a number of Saudi embassies abroad, mainly in Germany, to attract young Saudis studying in specialties matching the industry.
This is aimed to prepare them to work in the project because of its added value to the country’s economy, and to take advantage of these students studying in the engineering disciplines, and in technology and technical colleges as well as the different administrative specialties, either on scholarships or inside the Kingdom.
Saeed said the project will be built on local competencies, noting that the employees will be of both sexes, and the project will be constructed on a 150,000 sqm area, and will start with a production capacity of 3,000 tons daily, and an annual production capacity of one million tons which can be increased according to plans.
The factory can cover the needs of the Kingdom for sugar, he said, adding that the country imported up to 850,000 tons of sugar per year in 2014 and 2015.
“The whole project will be built on the environment-friendly concept,” he added.
Khalid Al-Mousa, CEO of the project, said the factory will target about 65 percent Saudization.