Middle East and Africa Plastic Packaging Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

Middle East and Africa Plastic Packaging Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The Saudi Arabian plastic packaging market was valued at USD 25.79 billion in 2020 and expected to reach USD 37.75 billion by 2026 and grow at a CAGR of 6.54% over the forecast period (2021-2026). With changing consumer trends toward healthier products, regulations, and drive toward sustainability in the MEA region, there is a huge impact on plastic packaging professionals to innovate and evolve materials, designs, and technologies for their customers.

• The beverage industry can be considered as the fastest-growing end-user for plastic packaging due to the rising consumption of bottled water and soft drinks. In the latest study published by academics from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, although the UAE has stringent municipal water quality standards, bottled water was the source of over 80% of the plain drinking water among participants.
• There is a rising trend of oxo-degradable plastics. Several countries in the Middle East & Africa, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Ghana, and Togo, are promoting the use of oxo-degradable plastics or have even made their use mandatory.
• The African continent is also expected to become a high growth region for the plastic packaging industry, with demand being driven by increased markets for consumer products, growing individual incomes, an expanding population of youthful consumers and growing domestic economies-particularly those in East and West Africa.
• New materials are being developed which are expected to gradually substitute plastic, which might present a challenge for the vendors in the market. For instance, The Al Ain Plant Bottle from Agthia Group PJSC is the region's first plant-based water bottle, which was developed in March 2020. The bottles are made from corn sugars and caps from fermented sugar cane.
• Due to COVID-19 pandemic, consumers in the Middle East drastically ramped up their online purchases of food products. According to Dubai-based Choueiri Group, the main grocery items being purchased were products with short shelf lives. This was mainly driven by freshness aspect and high nutritional benefits to help boost immunity. The top grocery products for online purchases were dairy products, fruits & vegetables and bread. The online survey was conducted between Mid March to April, involving 2800 participants.

• The Middle East & African region is witnessing an increase in the demand for pharmaceutical packaging in the region, which is majorly driven by countries such as Saudi Arabia. Healthcare remains the most fundamental scenario for the Saudi Arabian government. Increasing flexible plastic packaging solutions such as pouch demand across such end-user industries is driving the market to grow.
• According to USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, in 2019, the Egyptian retail food sector size was around USD 15 billion. With increased purchasing power, the market will grow and can foresee a growth of 15 - 20% over the next five years. Traditional outlets still dominate the Egyptian market, representing 98% of total outlets with 75% of total sales. In the last two years, the shift from grocery retailers and open markets towards supermarkets and hypermarkets has continued. This caters to the rise in the flexible packaging in the form of vacuum bags and vacuum pouches in the food sector.
• Moreover, according to go gulf, estimated retail e-commerce sales in MENA are expected to reach a value of USD 49 billion in 2021 from USD 18.67 billion in 2016. The e-commerce penetration rates as a percentage of total retail sales in the United Arab Emirates accounted for 4%, which is highest among other countries, which caters to the demand for vacuum bags and pouches heavily.
• The Middle Eastern producers of plastic bags and pouches are also anticipated to have access to lower-cost feedstock and raw materials, including crude oil and polypropylene, thereby, driving local manufacturing of plastic pouches. Thus, this is driving the use of flexible plastic packaging in the e-commerce market space.

• The Saudi Arabia region is one of the largest markets for the packaging industry in the overall Middle Eastern region. The region has a huge consumer base with a wide range of industrial activities (apart from the oil and gas sector), primarily adding to the rapid growth in the demand for plastic packaging from the country, every year.
• The lower crude oil price situation in the global market has realized the need for a stronger non-oil sector. In order, to strengthen the country’s non-oil sector, Saudi Arabia has been implementing multiple initiatives and regulatory reforms, such as National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP), Vision 2030, etc., that may increase the industrial production in the region.
• Saudi Arabia is also rich in raw materials, owing to its oil and gas industry. The country is one of the largest producers of polyolefins in the Middle Eastern region, which is anticipated to achieve a total polyolefin capacity of 15 million metric tons (46% of the total capacity) by 2020 (GPCA).
• Additionally, Saudi Arabia is one of the largest consumers of plastic products in the GCC region. According to the recent estimates of the GPCA, the country has over 95 kg per capita consumption of plastics, making it the largest consumer of plastic products in the entire GCC.

The Middle East and Africa Plastic Packaging Market is highly competitive with multiple players in the market operating regionally. The market appears to be moderately concentrated gradually moving towards the fragmented stage with the major vendors in the market adopting strategies such as product innovation, partnerships, among others in order to expand their reach and stay competitive in the market. Some of the major players in the market are SABIC, Zamil Plastic Industries Co., Takween Advanced Industries, among others.

• Jun 2020 - Aramco announced the completion of its share acquisition of a 70% stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) from the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The acquisition of the SABIC stake aids Aramco’s long-term downstream strategy to grow its integrated refining and petrochemicals capacity and create value from integration across the hydrocarbon chain.
• Oct 2019 - SABIC launched TRUCIRCLE initiative and solutions, showcased at K 2019, including SABIC’s flagship certified circular polymers from the chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste, certified renewable polymers, its new polycarbonate (PC) based on certified renewable feedstock and mechanical recycled polymers.

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support