Plastic industry in GCC to grow to 34.5 million tonnes by 2022

MUSCAT: The GPCA PlastiCon by Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) will begin on Sunday in Dubai. The forum will highlight the investment opportunities,

the major challenges and developing a future strategy for the sector’s growth and development at the regional level. GPCA PlastiCon provides an ideal platform for the regional and integrational companies operating in processing plastic products, as well as Gulf plastic producers to meet and network at the event.

The Forum focuses on the growth of the plastic products processing on the international and Gulf levels.

It will also shed light on the role of innovation in the development of markets and products. The Polymer industry in the GCC is expected to reach 34.5 million tonnes by 2022, supporting further downstream development while growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3 per cent. This is according to the GCC Plastic Industry Indicators 2016 report, which presents the major data and trends for the sector in the region during the past year. According to the report, future plastic capacity growth will be driven by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman. In 2016, the GCC plastics producers’ sales represented 4 per cent of the global industry sales revenue, reaching about $34 billion.

The industry’s capacity expanded in 2016 by as much as 5 per cent, reaching 27.1 million tonnes. In previous years, Saudi Arabia alone accounted for 2 per cent of global polymer sales, and ranked as the eighth largest plastics producer globally.