Construction, transport top in GCC to generate jobs

Investments in small and medium industries in GCC countries touched $15.3 billion (Dh56.15 billion) in 2014, which is the equivalent to 4.1 per cent of the total investments in the Gulf industrial sector, amounting to $380.1 billion (Dh1.4 trillion).

According to The Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), $6 billion (Dh22 billion) were invested in small-scale factories and $9.4 billion (Dh34.5 billion) in medium-sized factories last year.

The number of small and medium-sized factories in the GCC were around 13,480  in 2014, including 10,809 small factories and 2,671 medium factories.

GOIC categorised small industries with those which have less investments than $2 million, and medium sized industries are those with a capital ranging between $2 million and less than $6 million.

According to GOIC data, the small and medium-sized factories amounted in 2014 for 82.7 per cent of the total number of factories operating in manufacturing industries in the GCC estimated to a total of 16,292 factories.

In the same context, these industries offer employment to 44.1 per cent of the total industrial sector workforce in spite of the small size of investments which contributed by 4 per cent of the total investments in the manufacturing industries.

As for the workforce, small and medium industries offered employment for 674,933 workers or 44.1 per cent of the total number of workers in manufacturing industries, which recruit roughly 1.5 million workers.

Small industries have recruited 28.7 per cent of the total employees while medium industries recruited 15.5 per cent.

According to GOIC, small and medium industries are distributed numerically on all industrial activities, but they are largely concentrated on the activity of construction metals, transportation and other industries with 3,683 factories constituting 27 per cent of the total number of small and medium- sized factories.

The production of non-metallic material industry, that is building materials, came in second place with about 2,297 plants accounting for nearly 17 per cent of the total number of small and medium- sized factories, followed by the food and beverage industries and rubber and plastics products with 11 per cent and the remaining industrial activities with smaller percentages.

Investment and employment

In terms of accumulated capital, structural metals manufacturing, transportation and other industries came first with $3.9 billion, accounting for about 25 cent of the total investments in small and medium- sized industries.

The building materials industry came in second place with $3.2 billion as the size of cumulative investment in 2014 was about $3.2billion, or 21 per cent, followed by food products and beverages industry with $1.9 billion, amounting for 13 per cent of the total investments, followed by the rubber and plastics industry with $ 1.7 billion amounting to10.8 per cent, followed by the rest of the industries at less percentages.

As for the number of employees, construction metals, transportation and other industries ranked first with 184,000 workers accounting for 27 per cent of the volume of workers in small and medium-sized industries.

Building materials industry came in second place with 118,000 workers forming 17 per cent of the total number of workers in small and medium-industries, followed by food products and beverages industry with 71, 000 workers and 10 per cent, then manufacturing of rubber and plastic products with 65, 000 workers and 53 per cent, followed by the rest of industries with less percentages.

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