By Arif Khattak
As far as the future of building materials in UAE is concerned, we cannot predict that what will happen next at the moment. However the way Iran and Turkey have targeted price-conscious and quality-conscious markets by making building-material products, it will surely give very tough time to Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Chinese products in Middle East and South Asia.
Daily price fluctuations and declining demand is creating a ‘proxy trade war’ in the UAE and middle eastern markets. It will may also impact UAE-based production units, which are importing raw materials from China and Far East Asia to sell finished products at its own discretion and not allowing anyone else to enter the market by forming a monopoly. The first shock is about to hit them in a few months time as Pakistan is going to join this race very soon.
Fortunately, Pakistan has proved its readiness to compete in this trade-war by competing with Turkey and Iran by proving its presence in the CIS and Afghan markets in building material exports. The most important and necessary markets for Pakistan, rather than the UAE market, however, are East Africa, where construction is more active than in the Middle East.
