(MENAFN - Emirates News Agency (WAM)) K Show, the biggest plastics fair in the world, has hailed the growth of Arabplast on the second day of the show at a media briefing held today. .
Global figures show that between 1950 and 2011, plastics producers upped the global raw material production from 1.5 million tons to about 280 million tons, which translates into an average annual growth rate of about 9%. Organisers of K are optimistic that this growth will continue its upward spiral.
Plastic products constituted one-tenth of total manufacturing in the GCC in 2012, and included bottles and containers, pipes and fittings, bags, doors and windows, caps and lids, foils and utensils.
According to a Dubai Export Development Corporation report, Dubai has 90 plastics factories which produce annually AED 1.3 billion of plastic products, of which products worth AED 976 million are exported.
The second day of the show attracted keen interest in K 2013 from UAE-based and GCC plastics companies. It also highlighted the booming UAE plastics industry due to many positive factors, including low cost of freight and availability of raw materials from the GCC.
Ulrich Reifenhauser, Chairman of the K 2013 Exhibitors' Council, said: "K in D?sseldorf is famed for its innovations - no other trade fair for the plastics and rubber industry can offer such a huge and diversified spectrum of ideas and products." At K 2013, which will be held from 16 to 23 October, about 3,000 companies from all over the world will introduce the trade public to their offerings in the fields of machinery and equipment for the plastics and rubber industry, raw materials and auxiliaries, and semi-finished products, technical parts and reinforced plastics.
Erhard Wienkamp, Division Director, Messe Dusseldorf GmbH commented: "The manufacturers of plastics and rubber products as well as their industrial end users will be able to witness the pinnacle of developments in machine, process and materials technology at K 2013. More than 200,000 trade visitors from all continents will be keen to seize this opportunity." Employment in plastics and rubber makes up 4% of the total employment in manufacturing in the Gulf, according to Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC).
