German exports of plastics and rubber machines to the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 2011 increased by 5.4% year-on-year reaching value of EUR 101m. The data, published by the German Engineering Federation VDMA (Frankfurt; www.vdma.org) in advance of its participation in “Arabplast 2013”, to be held in Dubai / UAE in January 2013 (www.arabplast.info), shows that Saudi Arabia is the largest market in the region for German exports, accounting for 55% of the total, followed by the UAE. The other GCC countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar – play a minor role in the regional market.

In the first eight months of 2012, German exports to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE continued to grow, while there was a fall in exports to Bahrain and Kuwait and deliveries to Oman decreased by almost 50%.

Worldwide exports of plastics and rubber machines to the GCC countries in 2011 increased by 9.3%, with German machinery manufacturers holding significant shares in the overall value of shipments, at 7% in Kuwait, 34% in the UAE and 57% in Oman.

In Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman, German machinery manufacturers are the largest suppliers of machinery to plastics and rubber processors, while in Qatar they ranked second behind Taiwan and in Bahrain and Kuwait they fall fourth behind India, France and China, and Italy, Japan and Taiwan, respectively.