The Arab League’s Economic Council is currently reviewing the possibility of establishing an Arab Packaging and Bottling Holding Company, with a proposed capital of $500 million. The project is expected to save the League’s members up to $1.5 billion annually on imports of bottling and packaging raw materials.
Spending on such materials in the Arab World will double to three billion dollars by 2005, according to analyst estimates. Local manufacturing of the various packaging materials currently supplies 70.4 percent of consumption. This figure is expected to deplete to 64.4 percent by 2005.
Council economists estimated that by 2005 the Arab packaging and bottling industry will need to import 66,000 tons of plastic, 732,000 tons of paper, 98,000 tons of metal, 518,000 tons of glass, 411,000 tons of textile and 40,000 tons of wood.
Advisor to the Arab Economic Council, Faruq Makhluf, stated he believes that the establishment of a regional company would easily enable the Arab World to achieve self-sufficiency in terms packaging production. — (Mena Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
