The total value of the Kingdom’s exports of dates amounted to 1.215 billion riyals during the year 2021 AD, an increase of 31% compared to the year 2020.
The Kingdom’s dates reached 113 countries from around the world, where fresh and stored dates accounted for 77% of the total value of exports, and 23% of other dates.
The rate of increase in the value of date exports increased by 110% from 2016, as the Kingdom achieved the highest annual growth rate in the world in date exports, 13% during the past five years, according to a report by the General Authority for Statistics.
The Kingdom has contributed to supporting the palm and date sector at the international level through initiatives in coordination with UN organizations, as the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and the National Center for Palms and Dates were able to work on formulating and implementing initiatives, and holding workshops and permanent programs through the strategy of implementing those initiatives once and for all, represented in the registration of dates. As an unusual fruit” (Super Fort) with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2019, and the adoption of the “International Year of Dates” by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2027, and coordination is currently underway with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to announce the International Day of Dates.
These initiatives included the entry of the germplasm bank of palm and date varieties into the Guinness Book of Records for the largest number of palm varieties with 127 varieties. The Kingdom was also accredited by the Codex Alimentarius Committee as a co-chair of the team for preparing dates specifications globally, and the Kingdom contributed to the establishment of the World Dates Conference, which was held It was held in both versions in Riyadh and Qassim, while the establishment of the International Dates Council was recently announced, headed by the Kingdom, in February 2022.