JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – The 4th annual Saudi Food Show was held here on September 27-29, and USA Rice participated for the first time with its own booth as part of the USA Pavilion. The event brought together more than 28,000 industry professionals with 1,000+ exhibitors from 95 countries. It is one of the most important food and beverage sourcing events in the Kingdom connecting buyers and suppliers across the retail, wholesale, distribution, import/export, and foodservice sectors.
“U.S. rice has been present on the Saudi market for more than 40 years now, with well-established local brands offering U.S. long grain parboiled rice and medium grain rice to Saudi consumers. U.S. golden parboiled rice is appreciated for its high quality and ability to soak up flavors while remaining fluffy,” said Eszter Somogyi, USA Rice director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, who staffed the USA Rice booth. “We conducted meetings with several of our existing trade contacts here and got to educate interested visitors on the availability of all types of U.S.-grown rice.”
Saudi Arabia grows no rice and is 100 percent dependent on imports for this staple food, which is enjoyed at least twice daily by many local consumers. Annual Saudi per capita consumption of rice tops 52 kg (115 pounds).
Total rice imports to Saudi Arabia average 1.7 million MT annually, dominated by basmati rice from India and Pakistan, while the USA is the Kingdom’s third-largest supplier.
Saudi Arabia is the sixth-largest export market for U.S. rice sales, totaling 116,300 MT in 2025 with a value of $130 million, a 6 percent increase in both value and volume compared to 2024. Demand for U.S. rice has held steady throughout 2026 despite elevated shipping and security changes and challenging logistics to the region.
USA Rice collected trade leads from interested buyers from Saudi, Syria, Oman, Qatar and several other countries during the show, which will be shared with members for future follow up.