ArabPlast 2013 attracted 30,000 visitors and concluded machinery deals that worth more than US$3 billion, according to the organizer, Al Fajer Information & Services. Satish Khanna, General Manager, Al Fajer Information & Services said, “Plastics consumption in the Middle East is rapidly increasing. Events like World Cup Doha 2022 are boosting this consumption.
Plastics is also used heavily in infrastructure and this explains the rapidly increasing consumption amongst individuals and corporate alike. Plastics and petrochemical companies in the GCC are equipping their factories with latest technologies and machineries to increase their production capacities. This is where these multi-billion deals at the show were generated.”
As said, the per capita consumption of plastics crossed 39kg in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, 33% higher than the world average and almost eight times more than India. Huge amount of plastics is needed to cater to the requirements of the World Cup 2022 in Doha where construction and redevelopment of stadiums for the Mondial is under construction. In Qatar, five stadiums are currently in planning or tendering stages and these would need large quantities of plastics that could be partially or fully supplied domestically.
“The Gulf States command an 11% share of the US$600 billion global petrochemical industry. Gulf States could develop a domestic market for consuming their petrochemicals instead of exporting it to almost all other countries in the world.” Mr Khanna added.
