Search Results for: UAE

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Kuwait City

KUWAIT is set to follow Dubai by banning smoking in public places, a move that is expected to further hit local struggling non-premium tobacco distributors, who are still reeling from a hike in duty and advertising bans imposed five years ago.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Kuwait

THE MARKET for fake car parts in the Middle East is rising at an alarming pace, now accounting for an estimated 30% of the region’s US$11 billion parts sector. In a recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report, the Middle East was highlighted as a central market in the US$16 billion global trade in fake auto parts, which is growing at an estimated 9-11% a year.…

BY SAEED AKHTAR BALOCH, in Lahore

WITH a long established food manufacturing sector and strong commodity production, the Pakistan food industry, one of the largest industries in the country, has grown with an average pace of 10% over the last three years.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
SALES of cosmetics, perfumes and toiletries are surging in the Middle East, with sales reaching US$2.1 billion last year according to official statistics.

German cosmetics and toiletries manufacturing giant Beiersdorf estimated regional growth at 10% percent last year.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Abu Dhabi
HOW to better regulate the popular Middle East and south Asian alternate remittance system (ARS) known as hawala, which has been linked to money laundering, organised crime and terrorist financing, was the focus of the recent Fourth International Conference on Hawala at the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Abu Dhabi.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Dubai
THE CLOTHING market in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is experiencing stellar growth on the back of rising consumer spending, a surge in tourists, and 145% growth in retail space as new malls and shopping centers spring up.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
Bahrain has a population of less than 800,000 and is not a major market for the international players, but with a growing economy sales are consistent and should increase as the retail environment develops. No soaps or cosmetics are made in Bahrain, imported from plants in neighbouring Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as from Asia, Europe and North America.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
Saudi Arabia is the Middle East’s largest economy and, as a result, the biggest market for cosmetics, toiletries and perfumes, estimated at US$1.2 billion last year, according to the Saudi-American Business Council. With the birth rate at 3% growth a year, one of the highest in the world, and the population doubling every 25 years, companies expect significant growth in the near future as this young population ages.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
The cosmetics and personal care market in the UAE was worth more than US$414 million in retail sales last year, according to market data group Euromonitor. Demand is being driven in the UAE by an estimated 6.2 million tourists a year, a 23.5% rise in GDP in nominal terms in 2006, and by radical changes in the UAE’s population- from 2.4 million in 1995 to 4.3 million this year.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Dubai
CURBING the counterfeiting and smuggling of established companies’ goods has become a pressing concern for international businesses wanting to protect their brands in the growing economies of the Middle East.

Although certain sectors are suffering more than others, the issue has been deemed serious enough for leading multinationals to team together last year to create a Brand Owners’ Protection Group (BPG) in the Middle East to tackle the region’s part in generating the US$500 billion global counterfeit trade.…