The UAE consumer paper and board packaging market is valued at $500 million comprising approximately 0.5 per cent of global demand, said organisers of a trade show ahead of its opening tomorrow (September 14) in Dubai, UAE.

Sponsored by Saudi Paper Group (SPG), the eighth edition of Paper Arabia 2015, the biggest to date, will run until September 16 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, announced Al Fajer Information and Services, organizers of the show.

Al Fajer said that the packaging sales in the UAE will continue to show strong growth as both increased consumption and demand for consumer goods drives the need for more sophisticated packaging.
Lamyae Zafati, exhibition manager, Al Fajer said: “We are fully geared to inaugurate the largest Paper Arabia to date. The show is 22 per cent bigger than previous edition, which demonstrates robustness of the paper industry in the UAE and regionally, in products as well as machinery.”

“The UAE paper industry is witnessing dramatic growth due to the increasing number of manufacturers and significant development of paperwork conversion industry in recent years. Paper conversion sector includes producing all major paper products such envelopes, paper bags, cardboard and others,” added Zafati.

Leading paper manufacturers find in Paper Arabia 2015 a perfect opportunity to meet face to face with their existing and would be customers from GCC, as well as Iran and Africa.

Paper Arabia 2015 brings together major paper suppliers and manufacturers under one roof.

Paper Arabia 2015 attracted leading players from the paper, tissue and converting industry. The show offers opportunities for manufactures and suppliers of finished products, equipment, machinery, paper chemicals, services, supplies of paper, tissue and converting sector to access the Mena and Asian markets.

“The paper industry market is growing tremendously, year on year, and new products are being launched on a regular basis. New companies are launching business in this field. Soft packaging is seeing high demand. Corrugated paper is being used for new patterns. Tissue paper is being recycled. Green campaigns are running in most of the countries. We anticipate huge success for Paper Arabia,” Zafati added.

Corrugated and carton industries have been added to the line-up in 2015 edition where leading companies specialized in this field will be present at the show.

Zafati added: “The previous edition of the show saw attendance of more than 8000 trade visitors from 45 countries; we expect this number to cross 10000 in this year’s edition due to the fact that more companies are exhibiting.”

Paper Arabia attracts key players in paper and tissues production, in addition to manufacturers of paper remittances from the Middle East and the world. The exhibition also provides an opportunity for major machinery manufacturing firms and other service providers to showcase their latest innovations.

The show has attracted participation from the UAE, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Libya, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Norway, Pakistan, Taiwan, Netherlands, the UK and the US.

Zafati added that paper consumers in the world are looking at Dubai as an alternative hub for Europe due to its cost effectiveness and speed of delivery, making it a strong candidate for acquiring lead position in this industry.

Talking about the tissues industry, Zafati said: “Although production capacity of paper tissues in the UAE is very high, factories in the UAE have plans to increase their export to neighbouring countries, on the strength of their advanced world class machineries used in the production of these products.”

The exhibition has also attracted companies specialised in tissues, packaging and recycling products.

The paper, tissue and converting industries will be displaying latest technologies at the show. A wide array of machinery products targeting paper mills will be displayed, along with a range of household paper for end users. – TradeArabia News Service