Leading paper industry show Propaper Dubai 2024 opened its doors today at the state-of-the-art Festival Arena by InterContinental Dubai Festival City, offering a growth and market-entry platform for global and regional paper industry stakeholders. The three-day event concludes on 19 September, 2024.
The Middle East and Africa (MEA) paper and pulp industry is on a growth surge, poised to cross over $20 billion in the next six to seven years, with GCC countries led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE at the forefront of a demand upswing for paper packaging products fuelling the rise, industry experts said quoting independent market reports.
In a statement at the opening of the Propaper Dubai 2024, organised by Verifair, industry experts said that the growth was catalysed by the increasing consumer appetite for healthy, hygienic, environment-friendly, and sustainable packaging products.
“For the paper industry, being sustainable across the value chain of procurement, production, as well as logistics and supply chain is no more an option, but an imperative. While the efficiency parameters of sustainability are many, including energy saving, potential to recycle, and lower carbon footprints, what drives the transformation of being nature friendly is being entirely inspired by the position taken by the community and aware customers,” says Salahuddin Sharafi, Chairman of M.A.H.Y. Khoory Group, owners of Union Paper Mills and Al Dhafra Paper Manufacturing.
Paper packaging cornerstone of growth
According to market research firm IMARC Group, paper packaging has been a cornerstone for growth in recent times with the GCC paper packaging market expected to grow from $9.1 billion in 2023 to $12.8 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 3.8%.
Food packaging is a major segment in the paper packaging verticals, followed by pharma, beauty, and cosmetics. Post-COVID, demand for paper packaging solutions has been on a consistent upward trajectory, particularly on the backdrop of rising food packaging needs. According to London-based data analytics and consulting firm GlobalData, the MEA food market size stood at $277.9 billion in 2023, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 3% during 2023-2028, increasing the prospects of paper packaging solutions.
Increasing consumer sensitivity to hygiene is also fuelling growth in the tissue sector in the MEA region. According to German online data gathering platform Statista, the UAE tissue and hygiene paper market is expected to grow by 1.94% in the 2024-2029 forecast period, from the current $25 million. Despite income disparities and conflicts in the region, growth in the tissue and hygiene vertical is bound to grow with MEA being one of the fastest growing regions. The growth will also drive on the rising population with the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimating that MEA will be home to around 3.4 billion people by 2050.
Innovate for sustainability
“The paper industry has been on an eco-friendly innovation journey with consumer appetite shifting to recyclable paper products. The transformation is across design, production, and personalised solutions, to mention a few,” says Verifair Managing Director Jeen Joshua.
“Despite the challenges of raw materials and supply chain shocks from regional uncertainties, the demand for paper products and solutions have stayed strong with growth in existing markets, as well as opening up of new markets, particularly in the African continent, which is urbanising fast and have a majority of young demographic much like in the GCC,” says Joshua.
“Sustainability is becoming a core focus, with investments in eco-friendly practices and products driven by consumer preferences and regulations. Technological innovations are leading to new uses for wood components, including in textiles, altering traditional industry operations,” he adds.
Circular economy initiatives are also keeping pace with the overall growth, with the MEA recycled paper market poised to touch $635.9 million by 2028, growing at CAGR of 2.21%, according to market researcher Business Market Insights.
