Our Spring chemical elements held at the Heath on 21st March was attended by over 35 delegates and had a special focus on trade in the Middle East.
The presentations and discussions centred on the question – does the Middle East represent yet another threat for the UK chemical industry or a set of real opportunities? With its abundance of cheaper energy and feedstocks, diversification into speciality chemicals and other downstream industries plus government policies (e.g. Saudization) to create employment for Arab nationals (see page 21).
The event had speakers from KPMG, chemical sector specialists Jenny Quinn, and Andrew Monro who presented on the shift to the East. This gave an overview of the European chemicals market, the global chemicals picture and brief overview of investment opportunities in the Middle and Far East. Spotlight on the current chemicals market in Saudi Arabia and post Sadara. Threats and opportunities and the likely impact on larger companies vs SMEs were also covered.
Steve Cowles from UKTI presented on The Sadara Project, the UKTI High Value Opportunities Programme and UK industry involvement to date.
Julian Birchett from UKTI presented on Sadara and beyond and gave opportunities, next steps and what assistance can be sought from UKTI to help with this process.
Steve Cowles also spoke about UK Export finance and gave an overview of credit risk for GCC & KSA and the credit line for Aramco.
James Buxton also from KPMG spoke about maximising profitability and how even in a recession it is possible to achieve profitable growth.
n See also article on page 21.
