The buoyant outlook for the Arabian Gulf polymer industry, which is projected to grow 6 per cent annually over the next five years, is attracting innovative products to the region, such as a resealable plastic can for fizzy drinks.
The region’s polymer industry is set to produce 33.8 million tonnes per year by 2019 after it reached 25.5 million tonnes last year, according to the Dubai-based non-profit Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association.
Output from the plastic processing industry has grown 8 per cent since 2008, and last year reached US$9.9 billion. This growth has been spurred by low-cost production, logistics and proximity to export markets.
The Gulf region, with a young and expanding population, is attractive to the plastics industry, according to the Manchester-based consultancy Prea, which has been marketing a “revolutionary” plastic can for soft drinks at the Arabplast event in Dubai.
“Imagine a Coca-Cola can – you open it, you drink it. You are committed to drink that straight away. With this new revolutionary plastic can, where it slides open you can see what you are drinking and, after you had a drink, you can close it again,” said Pravin Mistry, the chief executive of Prea.
“The advantage is it’s fully recyclable. It is cheaper to make than the current can in terms of [the] processing side.”
Prea is trying to attract private investors and manufacturers to help produce this product on a large scale for the first time. The firm has manufactured prototypes that have been tested and is ready to provide technology, machinery and patents to potential investors.
“We are aiming at the Gulf because plastics raw materials are in abundant supply, and one of them is Pet [polyethylene terephthalate],” said Mr Mistry.
Borouge, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Austria's Borealis, has been producing polyethylene since 2001, and the firm was set to reach an annual production capacity of 4.5 million tonnes next year.
Prea said it was also in discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Sadara Chemical – a $19.3bn joint venture between the state-run energy firm Saudi Aramco and the US firm Dow Chemicals – that will produce products new to the region.
Prea is discussing opportunities to bring technology and investors to Saudi Arabia, which is seeking to develop a downstream industry through projects such as Sadara.
The Sadara project, which will produce 3 million tonnes of petrochemicals a year, is the world’s largest facility of its kind to be built in a single phase, and will focus on creating downstream industries in Saudi Arabia aimed at creating jobs and diversifying income away from oil.
In 2012, the Middle East and Africa accounted for 7.2 per cent of the 288 million tonnes of global production, plasticseurope data show.
dalsaadi@thenational.ae
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