RIYADH: Dates hold an important place in Saudi Arabia’s spiritual and cultural fabric, and their association with hospitality and religious tradition makes them a staple of iftar tables during Ramadan.

The holy month also reshapes one of the Kingdom’s most established agricultural sectors, with the date industry shifting gear. Faith-driven consumption and a gifting culture amplifies demand throughout supermarkets and premium packaging segments.

Economic adviser Fadhel Al-Buainain told Arab News that while demand for dates remained steady across the year, domestic consumption rose noticeably during Ramadan.

“Recently, there has also been growing global demand for Saudi dates. However, local demand increases noticeably during Ramadan due to the association of dates with the iftar meal,” he said.

Many people prefer to break their fast with fresh rutab dates or, when these are unavailable, with dried dates, as per tradition. Along with the religious aspect, dates are also valued for their nutritional benefits — valuable during long fasting hours.

Al-Buainain said Ramadan was “a driver for increased sales and exports,” reinforcing the sector’s seasonal momentum, but he stressed Ramadan did not represent the industry’s true economic peak.

“I do not believe it creates a peak season, despite its marketing importance,” he said. “The true peak season is the period following the date harvest, when markets flourish and large quantities are sold as farm output supplies the market. However, in the retail sector, Ramadan can be considered one of the important seasons in which marketing activity increases.”

The distinction highlights a key dynamic in the industry. While Ramadan accelerates retail turnover and boosts demand in supermarkets and gift markets, production cycles and wholesale auctions remain closely tied to harvest season.

“The peak of date sales occurs at the time of harvest, both in terms of sales volume and prices,” Al-Buainain said.

Date auctions, he added, are linked to the beginning of the harvest, after which large quantities are sold wholesale — the most important channel for producers — before reaching retailers and consumers. By contrast, sales during Ramadan are mostly from previously harvested stock.

“For example, the upcoming Ramadan will arrive before this year’s harvest season,” he said. “Therefore, the dates being sold are from last year’s crop. This further illustrates the point.”

Despite the seasonal rise in consumption, Al-Buainain said production volumes remained sufficient to prevent significant price volatility.

“Production volumes are large, and supply exceeds demand,” he said, adding that traditional dates marketed through conventional channels were expected to maintain stable prices. Any price increases are largely confined to processed or attractively repackaged varieties.

“Price increases are linked to dates packaged in modern, gift-like formats or processed dates that include added ingredients such as nuts and others. Traditional dates, however, still have stable prices,” he said.

Most dates available locally are domestically produced, with limited processed products manufactured abroad. Price differences are primarily determined by type, quality and packaging rather than Ramadan-related demand pressures.

“There are also some practices carried out by wholesale traders through auctions, where buyers bid against one another, artificially driving prices up, filming these scenes and broadcasting them to influence prices. This cannot be taken as a reliable benchmark,” Al-Buainain told Arab News.

At a structural level, the sector has expanded significantly in recent years. Saudi date exports reached SAR 1.695 billion in 2024, according to the National Centre for Palms & Dates, citing data from the General Authority for Statistics. Production exceeded 1.9 million tonnes, with exports reaching 133 countries — a 15.9 percent increase in value compared to 2023.

Since the launch of Vision 2030, export value has grown by 192.5 percent between 2016 and 2024.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-largest date producer, is home to more than 33 million palm trees — representing 27 percent of the global total — across approximately 123,000 agricultural holdings.

Dates also recorded the highest self-sufficiency ratio among fruits at 121 percent, according to the General Authority of Statistics.

Al-Buainain described dates as a strategic commodity and a core component of the Kingdom’s food security framework.

The sector holds significant potential to further support agricultural diversification, provided it is backed by clearer long-term strategy, improved pest control and stronger coordination across the value chain.

“The date sector needs a clear strategy that ensures maximum benefit from dates produced in the Kingdom. It also requires full protection from expatriate labor that focuses solely on profit and harms the date sector, its future, and its sustainability,” he said.

“The sector also needs a final solution to pests that damage palm trees, including the red palm weevil, as well as the establishment of a national date company to purchase crops, process, package, distribute, and export them, in addition to entering date-based industries to generate added value for the economy.”