UAE's ArabPlast and Tekno/Tube Arabia 2009 Exhibitions Bolster Region's Industrial Manufacturing Sector

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Speaking at the inauguration of the eighth ArabPlast and Tekno/Tube Arabia 2009 exhibitions on January 10, 2009, Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the United Arab Emirates' Minister of Foreign Trade, said the country's industrial manufacturing sector is growing at a rapid pace, contributing toward a well-diversified economy despite the prevalent financial turmoil worldwide.

The biennial events, running for the 18th year, attracted 900 participants representing 34 countries, registering a 25% increase in participation compared with 2007. The events attracted 13,572 visitors from 72 countries. Lubna hailed the United Arab Emirates as the regional hub for the Middle East, offering lucrative opportunities for operations to regional and international players alike.

The exhibitions displayed a range of technological innovations in the chemical, packaging, plastics, petrochemical, polymer, pipes and tubes, rubber, industrial machinery, machine tools, metal working and welding machinery industries. The ArabPlast exhibition displayed new products and technologies in blow molding, injection molding, pre- and post-plastic processing techniques, wrapping and packaging, as well as raw materials such as additives, master batches and polymers.

Taiwanese firms reportedly sold machinery products worth more than $5 million at the event. About 80 Chinese firms participated in Tekno/Tube Arabia and 200 in ArabPlast this year compared with 2007, which saw participation from 24 and 80 Chinese firms, respectively. About 25 German firms participated in Tekno/Tube Arabia and 50 in ArabPlast this year. The Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau (VDMA) (Frankfurt), a German engineering federation representing more than 3,000 firms in the country, decided to set up an office in the Middle East.

Satish Khanna, General Manager of Al Fajer Information & Services (Dubai, UAE) and co-organizer of the two exhibitions, said that the plastics sector in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region attracted $5 billion in investments in 2008 and has 1,253 industrial units operating in the gulf region.

The plastics industry accounts for 10.6% of the total manufacturing industry in the region and produced 2.3 million tons of products in 2008. Plastics and petrochemicals accounted for 4% of the total investments in this sector and employed 9% of the total workforce in the GCC. The plastics industry is poised for rapid growth because of the abundant local availability of raw materials, such as petrochemicals, and a projected double-digit growth in the demand for plastic, rubber and tubes in the region. The industrial manufacturing sector in the United Arab Emirates grew at a rate of 15% in the first three quarters of 2008. Demand for industrial equipment and machinery in the Gulf region is expected to grow at an annual rate of 20%.

Abu Dhabi Polymers Park (ADPP), a cluster of players in the plastics industry being set up by Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation (Abu Dhabi), is on schedule in setting up the first production unit. Bonar Emirates Technical Yarns LLC, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi Basic and Low & Bonar PLC (London) to manufacture artificial glass yarn, will be the first production unit to be set up at the ADPP.

The ADPP is planning to complete the land-allotment process for manufacturing facilities by 2011. It expects investments of $52 million in 2009 and is targeting an investment of $1 billion in the first year of operations and $4.5 billion by 2015. Infrastructure facilities are scheduled to be ready by September 2009 and the first manufacturing unit in the park is slated to come into operation around the same time. The ADPP is expecting to develop a polymer conversion capacity of 1 million tons per year at the park.

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