The Ministry of Labor will include the bakeries sector under the country’s Nitaqat nationalization scheme for the first time.

Tayseer Al-Mufrej, the ministry’s media center director, said the sector suffers from the lowest nationalization rates, which should range between five and 13 percent depending on the size of the bakery.

The National Committee for Bakeries at the Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC) has raised concerns about the new decision, saying it would cause many bakeries to shut down if they suffer a shortage of labor.

Fahd Salman, head of the committee, said 574 bakeries have been shut down over the past five years in the Riyadh region alone, translating to around 150 closures a year.