Riyadh, August 25, 2021, SPA -- The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has announced issuing new 48 industrial licenses in July, where factories of foodstuff and non-metallic minerals topped the list of new factories with seven each. In the same month, 78 factories started production with an annual growth rate of some 144 percent compared with the same month of 2020. A report issued by the National Industrial Information Center showed that the industrial sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia attracted investments with a volume of more than 50 billion riyals, marking the highest rate registered by the investment volume in the industrial sector in terms of the licensed capital during one month, while the sector succeeded in providing 2,931 jobs, including 1,101 jobs for Saudis and 1,830 jobs for non-Saudis. The report revealed that the total number of existing industrial facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the end of July stood at 10,166 factories, where non-metallic minerals factories accounted for the highest share with more than 2,000 factories, and the total investment volume for all factories exceeded 1.331 trillion riyals. SPA-- 09:59 LOCAL TIME 06:59 GMT 0006 www.spa.gov.sa/w1609127