Saudi Arabia

GCC plans to fight food crisis
- Gulf Daily News
- 18 June 2008
A new joint strategy for agricultural investment will be launched by the GCC soon, it was announced in Bahrain yesterday.
Saudi Arabia: Buying food security with petrodollars
- Kuwait Times
- 18 June 2008
The Arabian Peninsula is currently flooded with petrodollars, giving the Gulf Arabs a wide array of investment options abroad. But while these countries are winners in the oil market, they are losers in the food market. As a result, the Gulf Arabs - with Saudi Arabia at the fore - are pursuing a strategy to buy their food security through overseas agribusiness investment.
Middle East economy: Food outsourcing
- Economist Intelligence Unit
- 18 June 2008
The Saudi government announced that it would co-ordinate with local private-sector companies and invest in strategic agricultural interests in key producer countries such as Brazil, Ukraine, Thailand and India, guaranteeing for itself supplies of cereals, meat and vegetables. It is already in advanced negotiations with Thai investors and a deal on rice farms in Thailand is likely before the end of the year.
Saudi Arabia in talks with Sudan and others to secure food needs
- Bahrain Tribune
- 15 June 2008
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is in talks with Sudan and other countries to grow grains to meet its strategic food needs.
Saudis plan to grow crops overseas
- Financial Times
- 13 June 2008
Saudi Arabia has unveiled plans to develop large-scale overseas agricultural projects to secure food supplies, revealing that Riyadh is in discussions with Ukraine, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkey and Egypt.
Bahrain eyes farmland in Philippines
- Reuters
- 11 June 2008
Bahrain wants to invest in rice farmland in the Philippines, the world's top importer of the grain, in a move to boost food security as global food supplies become increasingly expensive, traders said on Wednesday.
High food prices make oil sheikhs turn to farming
- Economic Times
- 02 June 2008
To break the runaway inflation that is fuelled by high food costs, Gulf rulers have a new strategy: they are buying unused agricultural land in poor countries like Pakistan, Thailand and Sudan, and becoming large-scale farmers.
Rice farmers dig in over foreigners' land
- Bangkok Post
- 25 May 2008
The Thai Farmers Association called on concerned agencies yesterday to look into land occupation by foreign businessmen, which has made many of the country's rice farmers landless.
Thaksin's rice plan angers local farmers
- Bangkok Post
- 23 May 2008
Farmers and activists have opposed a plan for a business consortium from Saudi Arabia to invest in rice farming in Thailand. The scheme is said to be the creation of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Farmers fear they could lose their livelihood and rice farming could be held hostage by foreign investors.
Saudi ministers in Sudan to discuss investment potentials
- Sudan Tribune
- 23 May 2008
Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait are among the Arab countries who invest in agriculture in Suda. Also there are some private Saudi investors working in this field in the country.
Pakistan farm sector eyes major share of GCC's $200b food imports
- Pakistan Investment Division & Board of Investment Media Release
- 20 May 2008
Pakistan’s agriculture sector has the potential to cater to the food requirements of the GCC region, which spends over $200 billion on farm imports.
Saudi Arabia looking to invest in rice
- Bangkok Post
- 16 May 2008
Investors in Saudi Arabia, one of the world's top rice buyers, are looking for joint ventures with Thai partners to invest in rice farming in Thailand and Africa.