The “Plast Alger” (www.plastalger.com) trade fair took place from 11-13 March 2018 in Algiers / Algeria, and ended on a positive note. The number of attendees was up 15% at just over 5,000 visitors, making it the largest edition of the event. The plastics and composites trade fair was co-organised by fairtrade (Heidelberg / Germany; www.fairtrade-messe.de) and Messe Düsseldorf (www.messe-duesseldorf.de) – see Plasteurope.com of 08.12.2017. It was the first time Plast Alger was powered by “K”, the “world's number one” trade fair for plastics and rubber.

The organisers say the industrialisation process is accelerating in Algeria. This includes large investments in the automotive industry in Algeria and the Maghreb region.

According to media reports at Plast Alger, secretary general of the Algerian ministry for industry and mining, Kheireddine Medjoubi, said Algeria is looking to develop local production of plastics raw materials to advance the country's plastics industry. He noted the automotive sector in particular, and added that by developing local production, the country can revive the plastics sector and significantly reduce its imports.

Data from Euromap (Frankfurt / Germany; www.euromap.org) show that Algeria is Africa’s largest importer of plastics in primary forms. Since all except 3% of its plastic raw materials are imported (mainly from the Middle East, Asia and Europe), the Algerian market has great potential for exporters. From 2007 to 2015, Algerian imports of plastic raw materials grew 13% annually, from 304,000 t to 817,000 t. The country's plastics demand is also rising, with per capita plastics consumption in Algeria having grown about 9% annually over the last ten years, from 10 kg in 2007 to an estimated 23.1 kg in 2017.

German engineering federation VDMA's (Frankfurt; www.vdma.com) figures show that Algerian imports of plastics machinery rose 40.8%, from EUR 95.8m in 2015 to EUR 134.9m in 2016. The country's imports of packaging technology increased 8.9% to EUR 228.2m in 2016.