Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea inaugurated on Sunday the 18th edition of Egypt's international plastics exhibition, PLASTEX, which will be running for the next four days and aims to receive more than 22,000 visitors. The minister said that the exhibition is the largest local and regional event for businessmen interested in the plastics and petrochemical industries.
This year, a total of 340 companies are participating in PLASTEX, including 70 local manufacturers and exporters and 270 foreign companies from 9 countries, including India, China, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Vietnam, Switzerland, Germany, Turkey, and Qatar.
The minister elaborated that the plastic industry has become quite prominent in local industrial production, especially in the last ten years as a result, given that many manufacturers are replacing glass and metal with plastic.
Furthermore, most of the factories that produce industrial fibres have a 40-60% dependency on plastic to manufacture their products.
She explained that the plastic industry is a feeding industry for many other industries, such as the packaging, engineering, water management, electric, pharmaceutical, chemical, and automotive industries.
The minister pointed out that the government's interest in the plastic industry is reflected in its allocation of the Marghem 1 and Merghem 2 complexes to the industry, providing it with a total of 442 industrial units that are considered the nucleus of the city of plastics in Alexandria.
Plastic exports topped the list of chemical industry exports in 2021 with a total of $2.7bn, up from the $1.448bn recorded in 2020; a 43% hike.
