Saudi Arabia, as one of the largest building materials markets in the Middle East, has seen its scale continuously expand in recent years. In 2023, the value of this market reached approximately $1.83 billion. According to relevant forecasts, by the end of 2028, the construction scale in Saudi Arabia will reach $181.5 billion, nearly a 30% increase compared to the 2023 level. This growth trend mainly benefits from the stable development of Saudi Arabia's domestic economy, the acceleration of the urbanization process, and the continuous advancement of large-scale infrastructure and housing construction projects.
Image Source：699pic.com
Why has the building materials market in Saudi Arabia developed so vigorously in recent years, with an increasing demand for related products? There are several reasons as follows. On the one hand, Saudi Arabia has launched the "Vision 2030" with the aim of achieving economic diversification and reducing its dependence on the oil industry. To realize this vision, Saudi Arabia will invest a large amount of capital to develop large-scale tourism, mixed-use, and leisure development projects across the country. For example, the new city project in the north and numerous other infrastructure construction plans will directly drive the prosperity of the building materials market. In addition, the Saudi government also encourages the development of the private economy, providing more development opportunities and policy support for enterprises related to the building materials industry, and attracting domestic and foreign enterprises to participate in the construction of Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, the population of Saudi Arabia is growing very rapidly, and the urbanization process is accelerating. The growing population has an increasing demand for housing, commercial facilities, public service facilities, etc., which also prompts a large number of new construction projects to start. Whether it is ordinary residential buildings, apartments, or commercial office buildings, shopping centers, schools, hospitals and other public buildings, they all require a large supply of building materials.
Facing such a large market, in addition to local building materials merchants, building materials suppliers from other countries have also joined in, hoping to seize market opportunities. For numerous Chinese building materials merchants, Chinese building materials products have strong competitiveness in the Saudi market due to their high cost-performance ratio. Compared with some high-end products from Europe and the United States, Chinese building materials products have more reasonable prices on the premise of meeting the quality requirements of the Saudi market. For example, in product categories such as ceramic tiles and sanitary ware, Chinese building materials products can offer more styles and diverse functional options, and their prices are relatively affordable, which can meet the needs of the low- and middle-end markets in Saudi Arabia as well as some large projects that are sensitive to costs.
China is one of the important trading partners of Saudi Arabia, and the two sides have a solid foundation for cooperation in the economic and trade field. This good trade relationship has created a stable environment for Chinese building materials merchants to enter the Saudi market. The Saudi government holds an open and welcoming attitude towards products and enterprises from China and provides certain support in terms of trade policies and market access. At the same time, with the increasingly frequent cultural exchanges and personnel exchanges between China and Saudi Arabia, the awareness and acceptance of Chinese products and brands in the Saudi market are constantly increasing, which is conducive to Chinese building materials merchants establishing a brand image and expanding sales channels in the Saudi market. In addition, with the continuous deepening of cooperation under the framework of the "Belt and Road" Initiative, it has become more convenient for Chinese building materials merchants to enter the Saudi market. The cooperation between the two sides in policy communication, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges has reduced trade barriers and provided convenient conditions for the export of Chinese building materials products to Saudi Arabia and for Chinese building materials enterprises to carry out investment, construction, trade and other activities in Saudi Arabia.
Currently, Chinese enterprises play an important role in various project construction in Saudi Arabia, covering subsidiaries of central enterprises at all levels, provincial construction and building companies, and local private enterprises. In terms of building materials supply, Chinese enterprises have gradually emerged in the Saudi market with the characteristics of high cost-performance ratio and rich product varieties. Especially in the low- and middle-end building materials market, Chinese products have strong competitiveness. For example, ceramic tiles and other products have been an important source of imports for Saudi Arabia.
