The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of Ukraine's most important trading partners in the Middle East.

According to Ukrainian statistics, during 2025 trade turnover in goods between Ukraine and Saudi Arabia amounted to USD 530,8 million. Ukrainian exports totaled USD 333,2 million, Ukrainian imports – USD 197,7 million.

Ukrainian exports consisted mainly of the following items: sunflower, safflower or cottonseed oils – 118.0 million USD, meat and edible poultry offal – 96.6 million USD, cigars, cigarillos and cigarettes – 30.4 million USD, barley – 27.1 million USD, wheat – 10.8 million USD, ferrous metal products and pipe products – 6.1 million USD.

The bulk of the Saudi imports to Ukraine was formed by mineral fuels; oil and its distillation products – USD 71 million, polymers of propylene or other olefins – 54.5 million USD, polymers of ethylene – 51.5 million USD, pipes, tubes and hollow profiles of ferrous metals – 6.1 million USD.

Promising for Ukrainian-Saudi cooperation are the areas of energy (oil and gas, renewable energy sources and their development), construction (infrastructure projects), transport (air, sea, city), water management (housing), engineering. At the same time, the involvement of Ukrainian technologies in the Kingdom is also considered an important issue, as well as the combination of capabilities of Ukraine and KSA in order to implement joint projects in the two countries and third countries.

Saudi entrepreneurs and companies continue to be quite active in entering the Ukrainian agricultural market. In September 2018, the leading Saudi company "Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co." (SALIC), founded by the sovereign Public Investment Fund KSA, through a British subsidiary has entered into an agreement to acquire the domestic agricultural holding Mriya, which became the largest contract in the agricultural sector in Ukraine's independence, and demonstrated Ukraine's importance for food security. .

At the same time, SALIC (in the consortium "United Farmers Holdings", jointly created with other companies "Almarai daily company" and "Saudi Grains and Fodder Holding") began in our country in 2013 by acquiring the British company "Continental Farmers Group" . The consortium leased up to 45,000 lands in Lviv and Ternopil regions, growing wheat, barley, potatoes, oilseeds, and sugar beets. In 2018, after the purchase of shares of its partners in the consortium "United Farmers Holdings" and the acquisition of the agricultural holding "Dream", the total land bank of SALIC in Ukraine has grown to about 200 thousand hectares of land.

In 2020 and 2021 Saudi Arabia purchased 60,000 and 121,000 tons of wheat in Ukraine through SALIC, respectively, which won a tender announced by the Saudi Grain Organization, indicating the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's serious investment intentions by the KSA particularly in the agricultural sector. 

Systemic coordination and regular contacts through the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection and the Saudi Food and Drug Administration have become important in terms of establishing and maintaining supplies of agro-industrial products to our Kingdom.

During 2018-2019 Kyiv hosted the First and Second Ukrainian-Saudi Investment Forums in the agricultural sector, as well as an extended meeting of the Ukrainian-Saudi Business Council with the participation of a wide range of representatives of the business environment of the two countries.

From 21 to 23 November 2018, the Sixth Session of the Intergovernmental Ukrainian-Saudi Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, and Technical Cooperation took place in Kyiv. The parties are currently working on organizing the Seventh Session of the Commission in Riyadh.

In the context of promoting the products of domestic food producers on the Saudi market in November 2019, the first Export Mission of Ukrainian producers in Jeddah took place.

The 1st and 2nd meetings of the Ukrainian-Saudi Working Group on the development of trade and investment relations in the agricultural sector took place in January 2021 and February 2021, respectively.

In September 2024, with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in Saudi Arabia, a videoconference was held on strengthening trade, economic, and investment ties between Ukraine and Saudi Arabia in the G2G, G2B, and B2B formats, including through the restoration of the Ukrainian-Saudi Business Council under the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine and the Federation of Saudi Chambers.

The restoration and revitalization of official channels of business cooperation between Ukraine and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remain among the key priorities of Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts.

The parties continue to work on issues related to the further development of institutional economic cooperation, particularly in the context of preparations for the Seventh Session of the Ukrainian-Saudi Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, which is intended to ensure coordination of the bilateral economic dialogue and facilitate the identification of priority areas of cooperation.

An important element in the development of business contacts has been the intensification of interaction between representatives of the business communities of the two countries within the framework of the Joint Council for Business Cooperation between Ukraine and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has provided additional momentum to bilateral cooperation. Further interaction between Ukrainian and Saudi businesses is carried out on a continuous basis through bilateral mechanisms and modern communication formats that ensure ongoing dialogue and coordination between companies of both countries.

Throughout 2025 and at the beginning of 2026, positive trends in the development of trade and economic cooperation between Ukraine and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia persisted. Despite the complex security situation in the Middle East, high volatility in global energy markets and logistical risks, bilateral trade between the two countries continued to demonstrate resilience.

In the context of further attracting Saudi investment in the domestic economy, the Embassy cooperates with the Public Investment Fund through presentations of the most promising projects for foreign investment in IT, infrastructure, energy, tourism, agriculture. Saudi investors are urged to expand their investment presence in Ukraine, taking into account the existing experience of raising funds for joint projects in agriculture and aircraft, as well as in light of the growing attention of leading Arab funds and companies to Ukraine.