Saudi Arabia's plan to phase out production of water intensive crops including animal fodder has opened the doors for multi-million dollar deals with firms in the United States and Canada, traders said on Monday. Saudi-based Al-Khumasia Company, plans to launch its $40 million crushing and packaging feed mill in July, said Meshaal Al-Wetaid, its assistant general manager said on the sidelines of an industry event in Dubai. “We will need to import 500,000 tons of animal feed and we are looking at getting this from Europe, US and Canada since we can no longer grow the fodder in Saudi because of water shortages,” he said, adding that his firm is willing to spend up to $200 million to secure fodder supplies this year. “It's much cheaper for Saudi to import all water-intensive crops rather than growing them locally.” Green Prairie, a Canada-based wholesale supplier of fodder is looking to finalize a 150,000 tons fodder deal with Saudi Arabia's Al Kholi Group over the coming few days, said Peter Ball, vice president of marketing at Green Prairie. “The demand for fodder is growing at a very fast pace in the Gulf and this is where most of our big contacts are,” he said. The fodder is used to feed the huge and growing dairy herds of the Gulf including camels, horses, sheep and goats. Shipment takes between 30 and 45 days to arrive by container ship from the US West Coast but remains usable as animal feed for about a year, traders said, adding that the cost of shipping is in the range of $250-$320 per ton. The United Arab Emirates is also importing large amounts of animal feed, and last year Abu Dhabi launched a tender for 800,000 tons of fodder, traders said.
