More new plastics parks proposed in the Middle East

AIMING to make the UAE an important hub for plastics manufacturing and processing, and boosting the growth of SMEs in the field, the idea of setting up a new plastics park in the country was floated at a recently held industry event in Sharjah.

Industry executives, who gathered at Expo Centre Sharjah for the 2nd Plastivision Arabia, 2nd ArabiaMold, 5th PlastiCon Conference voiced the need to better organise the plastic manufacturing and processing industry by setting up a dedicated plastic park. Similar sentiments were echoed by the co-organisers & participants of the inaugural Print Pack Arabia who mooted the idea of a printing & printing machinery cluster in the UAE.

According to the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association, plastics processing in the region is geographically concentrated with around 90 per cent of plastics conversion in Saudi Arabia taking place across five industrial parks, while the UAE has the Abu Dhabi Polymer Park, the world’s largest plastics park, and a few clusters in Dubai and Sharjah.

Currently, the plastics parks in Saudi Arabia and UAE account for more than 60 per cent of plastics processed in the GCC and around 70 per cent of the 50 largest processors.

The region is now focusing on downstream industries and plastics conversion, aiming to capitalise on the huge polymer capacity and to develop downstream manufacturing capabilities.

During their four-day run, the three shows featured over 250 exhibitors from more than 20 countries, occupying 14,000 sq.m. of exhibition space as against the previous edition’s 10,000 sq.m. The number of visitors also increased from 7,000 from 66 countries to 7,277 visitors from 77 countries.