The market for petrochemicals seems to have turned the corner, according to the region’s largest petrochemicals distributor.
“The last three years have been challenging for the chemicals and energy sectors,” Yogesh Mehta, the managing director and joint owner of Petrochem, told The National following the completion of the fourth phase of its expansion at Jebel Ali Free Zone.
He said oversupply and a market cluttered with too many players with wildly varying capabilities, together with softer demand, had eaten into margins.
“But the environment is getting better this year and we are having a good first quarter and hope to have a good year,” Mr Mehta said.
“Prices have bottomed out and that makes for a stable environment for energy and the chemicals industry,” he said, forecasting that oil prices – to which many chemicals’ end prices are linked – is likely to trade between US$50 and $60 per barrel this year.
He said gross margins on turnover are back to 2.5 to 3 per cent for Petrochem, which last year had global sales of about US$1.1 billion.
The company has been operating out of Dubai since 1995 and is ranked by ICIS, a chemicals industry data firm, as the top independent distributor in the region and No 11 in the world.
The expansion has grown the storage facility out to 10 tanks from seven at Jebel Ali. Together with the chemicals they contain – which are the raw material for a range of products in the paint and packaging industries – the asset there is now worth about $150 million, Mr Mehta said.
Jebel Ali is the largest of the two facilities – the other is near Cairo in Egypt – that distribute to 27 countries throughout Africa, the Middle East and Asia for the company.
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
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6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
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- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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