Saudi makes food security play through Black Sea grain joint venture
Abdullah Aldubaikh, Salic’s chief executive, said the venture will make investments across 10 countries bordering the sea in grains and livestock.
These investments will be in the form of acquisitions and will include farmland, logistics and storage, he said.
“It is part of the food security strategy,” he added.
Al Dahra, owned mainly by Abu Dhabi investors, is already in partnership with the UAE government for its food security programme.
“Investing in agriculture abroad is very important for Saudi Arabia to compensate for the grains not being produced locally, we are part and parcel of this strategy,” Aldubaikhi said.
The announcement comes days after King Salman of Saudi Arabia met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, agreeing joint investment deals worth several billion dollars.
Saudi Arabia began scaling back its domestic wheat-growing programme in 2008, planning to rely completely on imports by 2016 to save water. Russia, one of the world’s top grain exporters, is expected to harvest a record grain crop in 2017.
Salic is considering investing in a Russian grain producer, RZ Agro, owned by local conglomerate Sistema and members of the Louis-Dreyfus family, Sistema said last week. It produces grain and has a land bank of 106,000 hectares in Russia’s southern regions
