Saudi Arabia's food security investment has rebuilt the Kingdom's protected cropping sector: greenhouse complexes across Qassim, Tabuk and the coastal plains growing vegetables that a generation ago were impossible at commercial scale locally. Every one of those structures consumes cover film on a three-to-four season cycle, and the distributors who serve them run a wholesale business on programme logic — annual volumes, standing specs, containers on a calendar. Here is how that business works.
Specs for the Kingdom's greenhouses
The Saudi standard cover is 150 to 200 micron three-layer polyethylene: UV stabilisation validated for Gulf irradiance, thermal (IR) barrier for winter nights in the interior, anti-drip treatment for cooled houses, and anti-dust surface behaviour for a country where dust on a cover is a permanent tax on light. Light diffusion variants serve high-wire vegetable programmes where even canopy radiation pays in yield. Widths run wide for modern gutter-connect structures — 8 to 12 metre covers folded and rolled — and the folding quality matters: a badly folded cover that creases will fail along the crease line in one season. We fold and roll on equipment that treats crease management as a specification, not an accident.
FCL pricing and the wholesale structure
Cover film ships rolled and palletised; a 40ft container carries serious tonnage and per-kilo landed cost improves sharply at FCL. Pricing quotes per kilo FOB Mundra or CIF Jeddah or Dammam, with micron, width and feature stack as the drivers. Most Saudi distributors combine greenhouse film with mulch and silage lines per container, and mixed-width loads are normal. Payment runs 30% advance with balance against documents on first orders, moving to programme terms with quarterly call-offs for annual-volume buyers — that is where the best per-kilo pricing lives. Transit runs 10 to 15 days to Jeddah or Dammam, so a quarterly rhythm from order to warehouse is five to six weeks.
The re-covering calendar
Greenhouse covers in the Kingdom run three to four seasons before replacement, and serious growers re-cover on schedule rather than waiting for failure — a torn cover in summer is crop loss. That behaviour makes the wholesale business predictable: distributors hold grower specs as standards, confirm orders one cycle ahead of re-covering windows, and containers land before the season they are needed. We hold production capacity for these windows because a cover that arrives late is not a discount opportunity; it is a structure standing open to the sun.
Frequently Asked Questions
What cover spec suits Saudi greenhouses?
150 to 200 micron three-layer film with Gulf-validated UV, thermal barrier, anti-drip and anti-dust behaviour; wide formats to 12 metres for modern structures.
Can we mix widths and film types per container?
Yes — mixed widths per FCL is standard, and combining greenhouse, mulch and silage lines per container is normal on this lane.
What payment terms apply for wholesale?
30% advance with balance against documents on first orders; programme terms with quarterly call-offs for annual-volume buyers.
How far ahead should re-covering stock be ordered?
One cycle before the re-covering window: order to warehouse runs about five to six weeks, and the cover should land before the season it is needed.
Cover specifications are on the Greenhouse Film page. For the open-field side read the Saudi mulch film guide, and for UAE greenhouse context see the UAE greenhouse film guide.
