Saudi fund signs contracts worth $246 mln for agricultural imports

The Saudi agricultural development fund has signed a number of contracts worth $246.69 million (926 million Saudi riyals) with a number of companies to finance imports of soybeans, barley, and corn, the fund said in a statement on Sunday.

“Signing these contracts is part of the fund’s efforts to support food security and compensate for any shortage that may happen in the commodities and agricultural supplies,” the statement said.

Saudi Arabia, which sources most of its food from abroad, has embarked on an agricultural deal spree in recent years after Saudi Agriculture and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) purchased a majority stake in the former Canadian Wheat Board in 2015.

In December, SALIC bought a $1.24 billion stake in Singapore-based agricultural trader Olam Agri Holdings. A month earlier, the Saudi firm agreed to buy a 9.2 percent stake in Indian rice producer LT Foods Ltd. Salic has also partnered with Brazilian meatpacker Minerva SA to acquire slaughterhouses and a lamb processor in Australia after buying farmland there.