Saudi Arabia Imported $1.22 Million of Sand in 2023 as Desert Grains Fail Concrete Tests
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 9
Saudi Arabia Imported $1.22 Million of Sand in 2023 as Desert Grains Fail Concrete Tests
1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 9
Summary
$1.22 million of non-metal-bearing natural sands entered Saudi Arabia in 2023, including about $138,600 from Australia, despite the kingdom sitting atop the vast Rub’ al Khali desert.
Desert sand is too smooth and fine for structural concrete: wind-polished grains do not interlock well with cement, and chloride contamination can corrode steel reinforcement in load-bearing structures.
$5.23 million more in silica and quartz sands came from suppliers including China, Belgium, the United States, India and the UAE for glass and specialist uses, showing the imports extend beyond basic construction aggregate.
The constraint matters because megaprojects such as NEOM, the Red Sea Project and Qiddiya will require huge volumes of angular, water-eroded or crushed sand that local dunes cannot reliably provide.
Saudi Arabia’s workaround reflects a wider global sand squeeze: the world extracts about 50 billion tonnes of sand and gravel a year, while construction-sand demand is projected to rise as much as 45% by 2060.