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

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 partly from Ukraine, as Saudi Arabia’s domestic production is insignificant at only 100,000-150,000 tons.

Alam stressed that ARASCO imported 1.5-1.6 million tons of corn in 2024 and plans to import 1.8 million tons this year.
Exploring new markets for imports

Saudi Arabia is willing to explore other markets for grain imports that can compete with the quality of their traditional suppliers.

Alam said: “We are always exploring new markets for imports because we have many other alternatives to consider…. We have explored many things, such as buying maize from India, but quality remains an issue.”

He added that South American corn is sold at a reasonable price, making it their first choice. However, when prices rise, the country also chooses Ukrainian corn.

Saudi Arabia has always shown interest in trading with Ukraine. “We get barley and corn [supplies] from Ukraine in Jeddah and Dammam [ports],” Alam said, adding that they will continue to explore more in Ukraine.

GFSA controls will loosen at any time

The General Food Security Authority (GFSA), the government body in charge of food security, is expected to loosen its control in 2025, meaning that Saudi private flour mills will be responsible for their own imports, rather than buying from the GFSA as they do now.

According to Alam, this could happen soon. “I doubt it will happen this year. But it could happen anytime.”

He explained that the National Grain Company and other companies were set up to help achieve the food security strategy so that government could remove its control and hand it over to the private sector.

This could allow flour mills to increase wheat imports. However, Alam does not see wheat flour exports from Saudi Arabia increasing after that. All flour produced by the mills will be used for domestic consumption, he said.

“We cannot export wheat flour at all because the mills will grind as much as they need. I am sure this will be the case for the next five years.”

Saudi Arabia will become self-sufficient in poultry in 2025

Saudi Arabia plans to phase out poultry imports, becoming self-sufficient in domestic production by 2025, Alam said.

“The country will become self-sufficient in poultry production this year, hopefully. If not this year, then definitely by mid-2026.”

He added that Saudi Arabia has been self-sufficient in egg production for more than 10 years. “The country exports to neighboring countries such as Yemen, Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait, etc.,” Alam said.

The country also produces all kinds of feed such as fish feed and exports some of the fish feed, he said.

Tags: corn, Saudi Arabia, wheat