The agricultural sector plays a minor role in the Kuwaiti economy, accounting for 0.5% of GDP and about 2% of the employed population. More than 90% of the country's territory is occupied by the desert and is unsuitable for agriculture. Kuwait's sandy soil does not have enough necessary organic substances, and access to water resources is severely limited.
Most of the water used comes from desalinated seawater, or brackish water from underground sources, which also needs to be desalinated.
These factors determine Kuwait's high dependence on imported food supplies. Nevertheless, the government of the country is interested in increasing the indicators of agricultural production, which requires investments in R&D, which will allow growing crop production in urban conditions or in arid areas.
Most of the crop production is accounted for by vegetables, root crops and tubers. The most common crop is tomatoes — their production in 2022 amounted to 106.7 thousand tons. In addition, cucumbers and gherkins account for significant shares in the structure of grown vegetables, root crops and tubers, the volume of production of which amounted to 79.9 thousand tons, as well as potatoes (35.2 thousand tons). Kuwait also grew 103.1 thousand tons of dates in 2022, the most common crop in the fruit and berry category.
The main grain crop in the country is corn — in 2022, its production volume amounted to 21.7 thousand tons.
Kuwait has developed both meat and dairy farming, but the volume of production of finished products does not fully meet the needs of the domestic market. Domestic production is severely limited by natural and climatic conditions and largely depends on imported livestock and feed, which causes high production costs.
The production of raw milk in 2022 amounted to 74.9 thousand tons, of which 68.5 thousand tons or 91.4% were cow's milk. The production of poultry meat in 2022, the volume of production amounted to 66.2 thousand tons. The demand for poultry meat in Kuwait is high, and the Government supports local producers by providing various subsidies for the purchase of feed and land in order to increase the competitiveness of locally produced products. The second type of meat in terms of production volumes is mutton — in 2022 the indicator amounted to 52.7 thousand tons.
The bulk of the mutton produced in Kuwait is accounted for by the slaughter of imported live sheep and rams. Kuwait is the largest Arab country in terms of per capita consumption of red meat, ahead of Oman and the UAE.
Import of agricultural products
In 2022, Kuwait imported agricultural products worth 5.4 billion US dollars, which is 1.3% higher than in 2021. The increase in imports of agricultural products from Kuwait in 2018-2020 was replaced by a decrease in 2021. By the end of 2022, the volume of purchases of agricultural products on foreign markets in value terms was at the level of 2018.
In the structure of imports of agricultural products of Kuwait in value terms in 2022, poultry meat was the main product (7.2%). The top 3 imported agricultural products also included beef and offal of cattle (4.5%), flour confectionery and bakery products (3.9%). In total, the top 10 imported products accounted for 37.4% of the total volume of imports of agricultural products from Kuwait in value terms.
In 2022, the volume of purchases of poultry meat increased most significantly (1.6 times compared to 2021 or by 140.8 million US dollars), milk powder (2.4 times or by 103.9 million US dollars) and chocolate confectionery (2.1 times or by 90.1 million US dollars). At the same time, rice imports in 2022 decreased by 16.4% (-36.7 million US dollars), cheese — by 14.8% (-29.6 million US dollars).
In 2022, the main suppliers of agricultural products to Kuwait were the United Arab Emirates (14.8% of value imports), Saudi Arabia (12.0%), Australia (8.3%), India (8.1%) and the United States (5.9%). In total, the top 10 supplier countries accounted for 66.5% of the value of imports of agricultural products from Kuwait.
Exports of agricultural products to Kuwait from the UAE increased most significantly in 2022 (by 2 times compared to 2021 or 412.1 million US dollars), Saudi Arabia (by 21.7% or 115.6 million US dollars) and Brazil (by 54.5% or 98.5 million US dollars). The UAE increased poultry meat supplies by 82.1% from 37.8 million US dollars to 68.9 billion US dollars.
Saudi Arabia increased exports of concentrated milk by 21.1% (from 49.5 million US dollars to 60.0 million US dollars), as well as poultry meat by 30.8% (from 35.0 million US dollars to 45.8 million US dollars). Brazil also increased poultry meat exports by 56.8% (from US$ 142.4 million to US$ 223.3 million). Moreover, in 2022, Brazil resumed corn exports to Kuwait, supplying products worth $26.2 million.
Export of agricultural products
In 2022, the volume of exports of agricultural products from Kuwait amounted to 387.2 million US dollars, an increase of 3.9% relative to the level of 2021. Relative to 2018, the volume of agricultural products supplied to foreign markets in 2019-2022 decreased significantly and reached the lowest value in 2019 (331.6 million US dollars).
The basis of exports of agricultural products of Kuwait in 2022 was wheat flour or wheat-rye (10.9% of value exports), concentrated milk (8.2%), fruit juices (7.6%), drinking milk or cream (7.0%), as well as ice cream (5.9%). In total, the top 10 exported types The products accounted for 62.9% of the value exports of agricultural products of the country.
Exports of ice cream increased most noticeably in 2022 (by 46.0% or by 7.2 million US dollars), as well as products and canned food from other meat, offal or animal blood (by 3.5 times or by 12.4 million US dollars). In addition, Kuwait began supplying fruit and vegetable juices, exporting products worth $29.6 million.
At the same time, exports of concentrated milk decreased (by 17.5% or by $6.8 million) and wheat flour or wheat-rye flour (by 15.1% or by $7.5 million).
The main importers of Kuwait's agricultural products in 2022 included Saudi Arabia (40.7% of the value of exports), Iraq (19.8%), Qatar (17.0%), the United Arab Emirates (8.6%) and Bahrain (4.6%). In total, the ten largest importers accounted for 97.9% of Kuwait's agricultural exports.
Relative to 2021, Bahrain (+63.6% or +6.9 million US dollars) and Qatar (+37.5% or +18.0 million US dollars) demonstrated the most significant increase in the volume of purchases of agricultural products from Kuwait. Bahrain increased purchases of food eggs (by 10.8 times, from 401.0 thousand US dollars to 4.3 million US dollars). Qatar increased poultry meat imports 6.5 times (from 2.1 million US dollars to 13.9 million US dollars), as well as purchases of fruit and vegetable juices (from 295.0 thousand US dollars to 7.9 million US dollars).
At the same time, Jordan's imports decreased significantly (-64.1% or -19.8 million US dollars), the country reduced purchases of concentrated milk by 82.8% (from 11.7 million US dollars to 2.0 million US dollars).
