Petrochem firms told to rise against anti-dumping

Gulf petrochemical companies have been urged to stand up against anti-dumping practices and hire local talent, said Engineer Hamed I. Khalil, Vice President, Marketing and Sales at NATPET.

The company is a major petrochemicals company based in Saudi Arabia that serves more than 57 countries.

Khalil also urged for higher deployment of local manpower in the petrochemical sector, and called on universities and industry leaders to collaborate on preparing petrochemical specialists who could lead this rapidly growing industry in the Gulf.

Khalil was speaking on second day of ArabPlast 2011 in Dubai Sunday.

“We urge the Gulf countries to act as one body on the global level. We call on certain countries to stop unfair anti-dumping practices and we urge other Gulf countries to support us in our fight against this practice, which violates WTO regulations,” he said, adding that there was a shortage of local workers in the petrochemical industry and this needs to be addressed.

He said that NATPET has more than 50 per cent KSA nationals in its workforce but overall the Gulf industry has a lower concentration of locals in the petrochemicals industry.

Satish Khanna, General Manager, Al Fajer Information and Services, Co-organiser of ArabPlast, said firms are showcasing latest technologies and track market trends of the Middle East plastics and rubber industry, which continues to be the world's largest exporter, offloading the majority of its output to international markets.

Companies from Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Italy, Jordan, Korea, KSA, Lebanon, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, USA and Vietnam are participating in the show.

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