EDC and UAE companies attract attention at Spain's Hispack Exhibition

The UAE's non-oil exports which include re-exports to Europe have been growing and in 2008 were at Dhs31.4bn.

Spain where the exhibition took place is a major market for the UAE's products and in 2008 accounted for over Dhs200m of exports and re-exports. Similarly, the UAE's paper and printing exports and re-exports globally have increased by over 25% in 2008 with a value of Dhs1.6bn

EDC supported four UAE companies - Emirates Metallic Industries Co. Ltd (based in Sharjah), Kimoha Entrepreneurs Limited (Jebel Ali Free Zone), Future Plast (also in Sharjah) and Integrated Plastics (Dubai) - in exhibiting at Hispack 2009.

The EDC's Chief Executive Officer, Eng. Saed Al Awadi explained that Hispack is the main trade show of Spain's packaging industry and is one of the four leading events of its kind in Europe.

"Hispack was timed to coincide with the food technology fair, Barcelona Tecnologías de la Alimentación. The exhibition provided an excellent opportunity to EDC's members to showcase their products to the European and wider international marketplace thereby increasing the overall awareness of the UAE's expertise in this growing sector, and our export partners have been able to assimilate a number of very useful business prospects,"

he said.

"The participation of the UAE in the Hispack fair of Barcelona has undoubtedly been a wise decision since it was a great success for all. EDC's participation along with Emirati companies has contributed positively to enhance the name of the UAE both in and out of Spain. The UAE Embassy in Madrid will support EDC team in future participation in fairs and international events taking place in Spain," explained Dr. Hissa Abdulla A. Al Otabia, UAE Ambassador in Spain.

Meanwhile, Ramadan Khaled Ramadan, Deputy General Manager for Emirates Metallic Industries, said Hispack was an excellent show to attend.

"We have so far picked up two potential buyers whom we would not have met had we not participated in the EDC pavilion. Hispack was also invaluable in learning about the demands of the European market place as well as their business strategies. We feel we can use our experience from Hispack, coupled with the leads we generated to develop an export business in Spain," he said.

Kimoha's Managing Director, Vinesh K. Bhimani said they had very little knowledge about the Spanish and European markets before participating in Hispack and had wanted to use the exhibition as a means of capturing first hand intelligence on the business opportunities there.

"The aim of participating was not to achieve sales but more to gain market knowledge and experience. In the event, however, Hispack has provided a number of unexpected business opportunities. Two of our suppliers were visiting Hispack allowing us to explore other business opportunities with them. We also took the opportunity to learn more about innovative products and technology in the industry which should help us position ourselves better for export opportunities. Hispack has definitely been worth attending," he added.

Shahid Shafihulla, General Manager of Integrated Packaging thought the quality had been good and each day had been better than the previous one. "Hispack has also allowed us to gain a greater understanding of the European market place and the leads that we have received appear to be genuine. We will be following them all up with great enthusiasm," he promised.

For FuturePlast, Marketing Manager Durgesh Ahuja believed participating at Hispack had provided them with a significantly better understanding of the Spanish marketplace.

"Whereas business is normally conducted in the UAE directly with end users, in Spain there is a need to involve distributors. To this end we received a number of enquiries from distributors and these appear to be very positive. Furthermore, we have received a strong lead from Morocco. There is no doubt these leads would not have materialised had we not participated in Hispack and it's definitely been a step in the right direction. We intend to use follow up visits to Spain as well as participate in other leading European exhibitions to continue to gain exposure in this market place," Ahuja concluded.