RIYADH: The Saudi ministry of industry and mineral resources has issued 72 industrial licenses during February 2022, with investments amounting to over SR1.1 billion ($293 million). During the month of February, the volume of licensed labor amounted to 2,339 workers, it said in a statement. This has brought the total number of factories in Saudi Arabia to 10,397, while the volume of licensed labor reached 1,038 million workers, the statement showed citing a report by the National Center for Industrial and Mining Information. It showed that the biggest share of the new industrial licenses was for the food production industry with 12 licenses followed by the rubber and plastic products with nine and seven licenses were issued for the manufacture of non-metallic minerals. Riyadh accounted for most of the new licenses according to the geographical distribution information with 25, and then the Eastern Region with 17 and 10 licenses in the Makkah region.