In spite of a substantial fall off in world exports of diesel generating sets up to 2000 kVA, the Middle East, comparatively, showed a more modest fall. Worldwide export figures show a US$2.5bn or 28.7 per cent fall compared to a 14.6 per cent fall in the Middle East (accounting for some US$237mn). According to Customs & Excise official statistics, exports from the UK to the Middle East fell by US$115mn (19 per cent) although their sales still outrank the rest of Europe. Surprisingly, the rest of Europe showed an increase in exports against the previous year by a handy US$52mn. By comparison, the US had a large fall of approximately US$105mn, China fell by US$43mn and Japan by US$26mn.
Although countries like India, Lebanon, Turkey and Singapore failed to produce export figures for 2009, it seemed likely that they had similar falls in the region of 15 per cent at least. Based on that assumption, the Middle East market is estimated to be worth US$1.5bn overall, which still makes it a very busy market. All values shown for the Middle East include exports to six countries in North Africa such as Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, etc. as these are geographically included as Middle East territories in many marketing people?s eyes. These areas accounted for some 23 per cent of all sales in 2009, with countries such as Algeria, Egypt and Libya accounting for US$255mn.
To read more, please see the full article in Technical Review Middle East, Issue Five, 2010
