Global plastic production, which grew by more than 500 per cent over the last 30 years, will be one of the trends that will be highlighted at an upcoming African-Arabian exhibition for plastic industries in Cairo.

The 12th edition of Plastex will be held from May 13 to 16 at the Cairo International Fair Ground.

Around 600 exhibitors from 31 countries and more than 25,000 visitors from 17 regional countries will converge at the expo to explore business and investment opportunities in Egypt and across the Middle East, the world’s top producer of plastic machinery, technologies, and raw materials.

“Egypt is one of the main countries in the Mena region that have established an advanced plastics industry,” said Ahmed Ghozzi, chairman of ACG-ITF, organizer of Plastex 2010.

“It has been successfully exporting the products to the EU, the Middle East, and Africa. Plastex 2010 will show Egypt’s emergence as a key market within the international plastics trade while reaffirming the Middle East’s place as the world’s most active plastics producer,” he added.

Since its debut in 1993, Plastex has emerged as the Mena markets’ largest plastics trade fair.

This year’s event will welcome visitors from Libya, Sudan, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, Syria, Morocco, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, UAE and Yemen.

A wide range of machineries and equipment, raw materials, semi-finished products, technical parts, reinforced plastics, and services for the plastic industries will be showcased within 27,000 square metres of exhibition space throughout the four-day show.

Plastex 2010 will also host the third edition of Egyplast, a special sub-event running parallel to the main show which will provide Arab-African businesses and investors with the opportunity to interact face-to-face with Egypt’s top plastics manufacturers and end-product exporters. Egyplast 3 is expected to register a 15 per cent increase in participants.

Current annual global production is estimated at over 80 million tonnes and is expected to increase by 3 per cent a year, a statement said.

Around 35 per cent of today’s plastic is used for packaging, with large quantities also expended for construction and vehicle assembly. An estimated 6 per cent of global oil supply is spent on the production of plastic.

In Egypt, the plastics sector consists of both polymer production and plastics conversion, with annual domestic consumption almost touching $2 billion.

There are more than 1,200 plastic manufacturing factories across the country with total investments of around $3.62 billion and a total market volume of $4.03 billion. The industry employs around 415,000 people, making it one of the most important domestic economic sectors. – TradeArabia News Service