Saudi Arabia’s food and agricultural import market continued to steadily grow, with total imports rising 8.2 percent in 2012. Total U.S. agricultural and food exports to the Saudi Arabia reached $1.21 billion in MY 2012/13. There are two important changes in the Saudi import regulations that U.S. agricultural and food exporters must be aware of when considering exporting to the Saudi market. Effective January 1, 2014, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) will start implementing a mandatory electronic customs clearance system (E-Clearance) at the port of entry for all food imports, including pre-packaged and unpackaged products. The SFDA also announced that it will fully enforce a mandatory requirement of nutritional labeling on prepackaged food products by the end of April 2014.
