The Red Sea Timber Industries project located on the southern shore of Aqaba with an area of (1,7) million square meters in the heavy industrial zone , imports trees from Ukraine and Russia through the Red Sea to manufacture compressed wood and latea for re-exporting to Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in addition to the local market. The development and construction of the facility started in mid 2001 after it was a non operational factory for 15 years. At a total cost of US$ 5 million.