“In terms of industrial financing the province has the first position in the Kingdom while in terms of the number of factories the province comes third after Makkah and Riyadh provinces,” the study, which is based on data available for 2009, said on Thursday.

The study, published by the Al Sharqia Chamber of Commerce in Dammam, put the number of commercial registrations in the province at 12,800, accounting for 18.3 percent of all registrations in the Kingdom.

The province’s agricultural lands produced large quantities of fruits, vegetables and cereals needed for its food industry. The province used 60,600 hectares of land, which is 7.3 percent of the total farmlands in the country.

Cereals are produced in 328,700 hectares of land, which is 39.4 percent of all farmlands in the Kingdom.

The province’s livestock farms have 121,900 cow heads, accounting for 28.7 percent of the total cows in the Kingdom and it comes second after the Riyadh province.

The number of camels is put at 20,700, heads accounting for 9 percent of the total camels in the country.

Riyadh and Qassim take first and second positions respectively in the number of camel breeding.

The province has 618,630 houses occupied by families, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The study said the province has fourth place in the hospitality sector with 62 hotels, 5.4 percent of the Kingdom’s total.

With 663 hotels, Makkah comes first in the hospitality sector followed by Madinah with 196 hotels and Riyadh with 90 hotels.

The study also put the number of apartments available for tourists in the Eastern Province at 658.