Value of camels in Crown Prince Camel Festival preliminary stage reaches SR3bn for first time

RIYADH: The value of camels taking part in the preliminary round of the Crown Prince Camel Festival has exceeded SR3 billion ($800 million) for the first time.

More than 10,000 camels have taken part in the stage, which started on Aug. 1 and finished on Saturday, the media committee of the festival said.

The festival is organized by the Saudi Arabian Camel Federation and held with the support of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Mahmoud Al-Balawi, executive director at SACF, said: “The Crown Prince Festival is distinguished by the presence of an open market, in addition to the large number of owners and investors in the camel sector.

“All of these factors contributed to the increase in market value.”

The 38-day event aims to showcase Saudi Arabia’s camel racing culture, as well as the broader Arab heritage of which the sport enjoys popular support in the region and beyond.

This year’s event features 589 races and a total prize pool of $14.9 million for the various race categories.

Now in its fifth year, the festival features more than 60,000 camels from Oman, Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait; Sudan and Egypt from the African continent; France and Switzerland from Europe and the US from North America.