Date consumption behaviour among the Saudis

Abstract

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) produces 16 per cent of the world production of dates making it the fourth largest date producer in the world. According to the Saudi Ministry of Agriculture and Water (1997), there are more than 18 million palm trees in KSA, out of which 12 million palms produce 590,000 tons of dates. At the industrial level, there are 49 dates factories, of which only 22 factories are at work with a total capacity of 91.131 tons. The total capacity" of the producing factories represents only 15.5 per cent of the Kingdom's date annual production. This percentage is far lower than the quantity that can be processed by these factories, which is 80 per cent, since the direct consumption of dates does not exceed 20 per cent of the Kingdom's total production. Even though dates and their palms are the subject of many studies in the Kingdom, a few studies are concerned with the buying and consumption patterns of Saudis concerning dates. As a matter of fact, no single study has been devoted to these patterns in light of such influencing factors as demographics and preferences.