Mideast urban growth makes Dubai focus of stone industry

dubai — Dubai will become a multi-billion dollar magnet for stone trade suppliers from around the globe as massive urban growth and infrastructure development continues to make the Middle East one of the world’s highest spending construction markets.

According to market analysts BNC, a raft of new mega projects valued at $29.19 billion were launched in the Middle East and North Africa’s residential, hospitality, retail, healthcare and commercial sectors over the last 12 months.

“Over the next two years, demand for natural stone materials will continue to be driven by projects surrounding Expo 2020. Following this, we see mega projects such as Saudi Arabia’s Neom as well as a slew of other social infrastructure developments in the kingdom as major drivers,” said Avin Gidwani, CEO of BNC.

Leading the way was the UAE with projects worth $11.57 billion followed by Iraq ($10 billion), Saudi Arabia $3.66 billion), Jordan ($3 billion), Kuwait ($1.3 billion) and Oman ($100 million).

These added to an estimated total of more than 20,800 other projects which were already active in the region, underlining the growing importance of Dubai’s annual platform for the natural stone, marble and ceramics industry. Taking place from September 4 to 6 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the fourth edition of Middle East Stone will connect more than 400 suppliers, manufacturers and distributors with thousands of decision-makers from the region’s $5 billion-a-year stone procurement market.

“The huge level of urban growth and infrastructure development we are witnessing in the Middle East makes this market an enormously lucrative one for stone suppliers globally. The GCC alone accounts for 20 per cent of the global stone market, creating a regional market worth an estimated $5 billion-a-year which is expected to create a demand for 19.6 billion metric tons of stone by 2020,” said Yan Wang, event director for Middle East Stone.

Among the new mega projects announced over the last 12 months highlighting the region’s insatiable appetite for natural stone, marble and ceramics were the $6.8 billion mixed use development, District Seven, at Dubai’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, Jordan’s $3 billion new Amman capital city, and the $2 billion first phase of the New Jeddah Downtown project to regenerate Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.