Asian Tigers eye ME markets through top Dubai Expo

Events such as PrinTech/PubliTech/PackTech at the Dubai World Trade Centre are pivotal in helping the Asian nations stabilise their fluctuating economic fortunes, they say.

"Most Asian countries have their own particular reasons for sluggish economic growth and that has prompted a clear increase in attempts to increase exposure in the Middle East markets," says Singaporean analyst Bernard Wong.

"The effects of the Asian financial meltdown were compounded by increased competition from China," according to Wong who has been at his first PrinTech/PubliTech/PackTech.

All Asian economies took a battering in the 1997 financial meltdown and although most improved in varying degrees, economic times are tough again.

Wong points out that The Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan have elections next year and economies will mark time until after the polls.

Generally, the economies of Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Japan are slow while Thailand is showing signs of improvement and Vietnam is doing reasonably well. Only Singapore (two per cent) and China (nine per cent) are registering economic growth with the rest of the region's nations in deficit.

Louis Yang, sales manager (export) of Taiwan's Dong Shiun Enterprise is making its debut at PackTech and sees this as part of a major push into the region. The company specialises in producing machinery for polypropylene and polyethylene woven bag production lines.

Their products were a revolution in the Asian woven bag industry because of the production speed, efficiency and quality. The company has customers in Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait. Extensive inquires at the expo' have come from Iran and Turkey, according to Yang.

"Cement packaging is an area of great interest from potential customers in the Middle East," he says. "Our greatest strength is that we can supply the whole turnkey project."

Judy Wang of Chan Chao International, which co-ordinated the Taiwanese presence at the expo', confirms Taiwan is increasingly looking to the Middle East for new markets.

"Taiwan is so dependent on the US market," she says. "If the US economy is down, as it is now, we are down too. Most of our exports are to the US. We are really in need of new markets. You have to come to Dubai and to an event like PackTech/Printech/Publitech if you want to find them".

Fairs and Exhibitions organised the PrinTech/PubliTech/PackTech trade shows. F&E's Sharla Hancock says: "The increased presence of Asian companies at the current shows reflects the growing interest in this marketplace.

"This means it's now more important than ever to ensure the companies from the Far East meet their requirements in every way at our events. We aim to deliver, and are succeeding, in bringing the appropriate industry professionals and state-of-the art facilities to our trade shows.

"We anticipate even more growth in exhibitors from the Far East at next year's PrinTech/PubliTech/PackTech."

The trade shows, organised by Fairs and Exhibitions, which service the Middle East's printing, publishing and packaging industries, ended Wednesday night.

Organisers report a visitors' increase nudging 50 per cent compared with last year. There have been particularly strong contingents from Iran and throughout the GCC countries.