Outlook for GCC plastic producer seen bright

Outlook for the Gulf plastic producers remain bright with the annual consumption of resigns, the raw material for everyday products millions take for granted, expected to grow 50 per cent to 5.4m tonnes over the next five years from 3.6m tonnes now.

Dr Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, Secretary General of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association, said: “The Gulf’s plastics conversion industry is a pillar of the regional economy, providing jobs and increasing the value of our most important export: oil and gas.”

Heavy demand for consumer packaging and plastics for use in the real estate and construction sector is driving the expansion, accounting for 70 per cent of the total output of the roughly 1,200 companies manufacturing finished and semi-finished plastic goods in the Gulf.

Dr. Al-Saldoun said: “More resins consumption within the region is a positive sign for the emergence of Gulf-based expertise in plastics conversion, and good news for skills development and jobs. It shows that more local manufacturing is taking root in the region and that GCC plastics exporters are increasingly harnessing the cost efficiency and location advantages of the Middle East in serving overseas markets.

Between now and 2015, annual resins production in the Gulf will jump more than 73 per cent, from 13.6 million tonnes to 23.6 million tonnes, with Saudi Arabia alone bringing 5 million tonnes of extra annual output on stream.

The Kingdom’s share of the total output is expected to drop from 75 percent to 66 percent by 2015 as Abu Dhabi’s ramps up its own capacity, from 3 million tonnes to 4.2 million tonnes per annum, representing a compound annual growth of 71 percent, the highest in the region. By 2015, the emirate will represent 18 percent of the Gulf’s total resins production, doubling from around 8 percent today.

“Access to more raw materials is crucial to a growing industry but product innovation will be equally critical to the development of high-value products and services in plastics. That’s why the Plastics Summit in April will once again be hosting the GPCA innovation awards, to promote the wider adoption of new technology and original manufacturing techniques in the plastics conversion industry, and encourage the modernization of local firms, many of which remain small-sized, family-run concerns.”

He said opportunities for GCC-based plastics producers to expand in the region and international markets will top the agenda at the 3rd Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association Plastics Summit in April.

The Gulf’s most forward-thinking companies in the plastics conversion sector will also be recognized in the second annual edition of the GPCA Innovation Awards, held alongside the event.

Held on the theme ‘Plastics conversion: growth opportunities in challenging markets’, the 3rd GPCA Plastics Summit runs from April 3-5 at the Grand Hyatt Dubai.

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