Bright prospects attract major players

The 9th Arab Plastic & Rubber Trade and Exhibit Show opened on January 10 with an optimism that the Middle East region would be able to weather the present global economic crisis. At the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Center, the show gathered active participation from various sectors within the plastics industry hoping to take advantage of the vast opportunities the Middle East region has to offer. To show full support from the government, UAE''s Minister of Foreign Trade, Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, was in attendance during the opening ceremonies. In his speech, Mr. Qasimi said that "the UAE has successfully emerged as the regional hub of the Middle East. International and regional industry players find this market lucrative for their operations." Such participation was stressed by the number of national pavilions from countries such as Germany, Austria, United Kingdom, Italy, Iran, Egypt, South Korea and India. The show''s co-organizer, Al Fajer Information & Services as represented by its General Manager Mr. Satish Khanna, discussed the significance of the plastics sector in the region. "The plastics industry now accounts for 10.6% of the total manufacturing in GCC. The industry has been growing at an average of 20% annually, with production reaching 2.3 million tonnes in 2007 compared to only about 500,000 tonnes in 1990," says Mr. Khanna. The industry also attracted $5 billion (Dh18.36 billion) worth of investments last year. He added that the Arabplast is currently one of the most successful international trade fairs focused on plastics, plastic packaging and processing and rubber industry with multi-billion dollar deals closed throughout the eighth editions of the show. This year, there were 900 exhibitors representing 34 countries. Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and TASNEE National Industrialization Company were the show''s sponsors. Wider products presented Arabplast 2009 featured state-of-the-art technologies meeting the latest international standards in pipes and tubes, plastics, and industrial machinery, raw materials, among others. New products and technologies in injection moulding, blow moulding, wrapping & packaging, pre - and post - plastic processing techniques as well as raw materials attracted interests among the visitors. "We are regular on trade shows. Hopefully, this year will be as fruitful as in 2007," says Joyce Chen, Vice Manager for the Sales Department of Parker Plastic Machinery from Taiwan. The company brought its extrusion blow moulding machine - a model that had already been bought by 80 countries in the company''s 20 years of operation. "We have 30 units of this machine here in the UAE," added Chen. Parker PK-CS/CD/CS3/CS4 series is a compact package combining flexibility, high speed operation, plus innovative control features. There is a wide range of models for producing containers with volumes of 20cc up to to 200 litres. Some companies returned to the show this year. "We were here four years ago, but the results were below our expectation. However, last year''s strong economic conditions encouraged us to have our presence here again " says Peter Steinl, Managing Director of LWB Steinl from Germany. Displaying the company''s rubber injection presses, Steinl is hopeful to find agencies to take interest. "Technology wise, this machine is the best in the market. We''ve been doing it for 46 years. Saudi Arabia has this machine to produce their rubber parts. It''s time for UAE to take notice." Another German company, Arburg, sees bright prospects in the region as it opens its regional office in Dubai amidst the worldwide financial crisis. "This region increasingly covers an entire spectrum of producing and refiniAir Max 90 VT QS