DUBAI - Saudi Arabia is seeking to attract vehicle and consumer goods manufacturers to build factories as the kingdom seeks to benefit from cheap crude oil to expand its economy and create jobs, according to state-run Saudi Aramco.
The government is in talks with a European car builder about building a plant in the kingdom, oil producer Saudi Aramco said in an article published in its in house magazine. The country also signed a memorandum of understanding with a Japanese truck manufacturer about a factory. Saudi Aramco, which didn’t name the companies approached to build factories, developed the plan to create industry clusters like car and consumer goods manufacturing, it said in the article in the Spring 2009 edition of Dimensions magazine.Middle Eastern countries are seeking to expand into industries like petrochemicals and plastics that can benefit from access to ample supplies and lower priced fuels. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE are all planning aluminium smelters and building chemical plants.
The country has also signed two deals with firms to explore refrigerator manufacturing in Saudi Arabia and with a mining company to build a 400,000 ton-per-year aluminium mill, Saudi Aramco said.
LONDON - After New Year cheer, reality is starting to bite. Several factors have doused the rallies in some key basic resources this year, including dollar strength and concern about regulation, but most noticeable are the steps taken by commodity consuming giant China to curb excessive loan growth.
WASHINGTON - U.S. wholesale inventories unexpectedly fell 0.8 percent in December, while sales rose 0.8 percent, a government report showed on Tuesday.
