Half of consumption is
locally produced goods

Ministry of Industry sees expansion

potential of manufacturing sector

Industrial production was estimated at $13 billion in 2017, according to a study ‘Expanding in the Local Market’ recently published by the Ministry of Industry (MoI). It is the extrapolated result of a survey of a sample of 1,975 manufacturers out of a total of 5,000 industrial firms.

The total consumption of all goods, excluding energy and jewelry, is calculated as $24 billion. This number is the sum of industrial production, $13 billion in real imports (excluding mineral products, pearls, precious stones, and base metals), minus $2 billion in real exports.

Locally manufactured products are therefore calculated to account for 46 percent of consumption.

“This demonstrates that manufacturers have a large potential market to expand into. We can grow the share of local products to reach 60 percent of consumption,” said Dany Gedeon, Director General at the MoI.

This can be achieved, according to Gedeon, through increased specialization. Improving the quality of manufactured goods, protecting the industry from imports, and giving locally manufactured goods priority in terms of public procurement, would help manufacturers expand and increase production, Gedeon said.