Commodities trader Glencore has secured a US$300mn credit facility from the Saudi Export-Import Bank (Saudi Exim) to boost mineral exports from the Middle Eastern state.

As part of the agreement, Glencore will grow its purchases of minerals from Saudi Arabia and market the goods to buyers in over 150 international markets.

“This initiative aims to strengthen the position of Saudi mineral exports and expand their geographic reach,” Saudi Exim says, adding that the deal will “empower” the Kingdom’s trade of non-oil goods.

Saudi Exim was founded in 2020 to help drive the government’s Saudi Vision 2030, a mammoth initiative aimed at diversifying the economy and reducing the country’s reliance on energy revenues.

Saudi Exim’s CEO, Saad bin Abdulaziz Al-Khalb, says the deal will support these objectives and comes amid wider efforts to transform the Kingdom into a “global centre for mineral production and manufacturing”.

“We believe Glencore’s marketing expertise will unlock new investment and commercial opportunities, further strengthening ties between Saudi Arabia and countries worldwide,” he says.

European export credit agencies (ECAs) have become a reliable source of liquidity for commodity trading giants in recent years, for instance by helping secure countries’ energy imports following a spike in prices caused by the Ukraine war.

But ECAs – notably those in the Middle East – have also extended financing to grow energy and metals exports.

In recent weeks, Saudi Exim extended a US$50mn credit facility to UK commodity trader DL Hudson, and last year struck a US$500mn deal  with Trafigura also partly aimed at driving non-oil exports.