Industry

After several years of negotiations and preparation, Morocco is set to see a significant jump in car production following the inauguration of French carmaker Renault’s new Melloussa plant in February 2012. Spanning 280 ha, this €1bn plant is the largest automotive factory in North Africa and in its first 10 months of operation churned out over 100,...

Toughened by internal and external liberalisation measures, Morocco’s industrial sector is experiencing a solid recovery following a dip in growth from 2008-10. Government initiatives to bolster strategic value-added sectors, notably in manufacturing segments such as aeronautics, automotive production and textiles, have also been instrumental in...

Estimated to be the second largest on the African continent after South Africa, Morocco’s pharmaceuticals sector is highly developed relative to many of its African neighbours. Currently, there are 32 pharmaceuticals plants present in the country, producing 293m units of drugs in 2011.

In an effort to enable female workers to play a greater role in the economy, the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON) announced in mid-2012 that it had begun to plan an industrial city that would make special provisions for women. Situated at Al Ahsa, near the eastern city of Hofuf, the industrial city will be near enough...

Of all the industries currently being prioritised by the Saudi government, perhaps the most eye-catching is automotive manufacturing. Over the next couple of decades, the government is looking to create – almost from scratch – an industry that encompasses cars, trucks and buses. By as early as 2025, the hope is that 600,000...

With plans in the works to inject significant investment into expanding its output of metals, petrochemicals and plastics over the next several years, Saudi Arabia continues to dominate the region’s industrial activity. This should keep the Kingdom at the forefront of the world’s industrial exporters, at a time when global...