Saudi’s Tasnee and China’s Shanghai Donghexin Group are partnering to set up the Middle East’s first tinplate production facility in Ras Al-Khair Industrial City on the Kingdom’s eastern coast, Chinese state-owned news agency Xinhua said on Wednesday.

The facility, scheduled to start operations in mid-2027, will have an annual production capacity of 400,000 tonnes with 50 percent of the output earmarked for export, the Xinhua report said.

The project aims to strengthen domestic supply chains in packaging and support key sectors such as food and beverage, paints, oils, and chemicals by providing coated and uncoated tinplate.