🌴 🇸🇦 In 2024, the Kingdom produced nearly 1.9 million tonnes of dates from more than 30 million palm trees, achieving 119% self-sufficiency.
Exports reached 351,000 tonnes of dates and by-products, generating SAR 1.695 billion ( about USD 452 million) a 15.9% increase over the previous year and shipped to 133 countries worldwide.
The industry is vast: over 123,000 farms are dedicated to palm cultivation. Dates alone account for 12% of Saudi Arabia’s agricultural output, contributing about 0.4% of the non-oil GDP ( about SAR 7.5 billion).
Regionally, Al-Qassim’s 8 million palms yield around 205,000 tonnes annually and host the world’s largest date festival, where nearly 300,000 tonnes are sold each season. Meanwhile, Al-Ahsa Oasis with over 30 million palms, remains one of the most fertile and celebrated date regions globally.
Dates today fuel food security, export revenue, and even innovation pipelines (from natural sweeteners to eco-friendly packaging). They are heritage turned into economic engine.
📍 Location: The festival is held at the King Khalid Cultural Center in Buraidah, Qassim.
📅 Timing: The event continues through the date harvest season, which peaks during the cooler temperatures of August and runs until October.
What to expect:
Marketplace: A massive marketplace where farmers and vendors sell a huge variety of freshly harvested dates.
Date-based products: Booths and pavilions showcasing a range of date-derived goods, such as date molasses, maamoul pastries, and date-infused coffee.
Cultural initiatives: The 2025 event included a “Date Diplomacy” initiative, introducing visiting diplomats and ambassadors to the importance of the date industry.
Youth programs: A special program was launched during the harvest season to train and empower young people in the date and palm sector.
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