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The Weekly Wrap banner: packaging news from Saudi Arabia, the GCC and the world, 29 October 2026
29 Oct 2026

Gulf Converters Invest as Costs Climb

Rising packaging costs are sorting manufacturers into two camps this week: those investing in capacity and secure supply, and those exiting low-margin lines. A Dubai converter plans to grow, a Saudi group sells its UAE cup lines, and a global paper major puts a USD 700 million figure on energy and freight inflation.

VerraPak bets on capacity and supply security in Dubai

AW Rostamani Group has relaunched its Dubai packaging business, formerly Sineo Packaging, as VerraPak, unveiling the new identity on the opening day of WETEX 2026. The plant in Dubai Industrial City runs 15 high-speed production lines in a 50,000 sq ft facility, with annual capacity above 400 million packaging units, supplying food, hospitality and consumer brands with recyclable and compostable formats. In an interview with Zawya Projects published on 21 October, CEO Hazem Moussa said the company plans to raise capacity at the existing site by 25% in early 2027, and is considering a much larger, AI-run packaging factory by 2030 with fully in-house recycling. He declined to give the investment, site or capacity of that second plant, citing confidentiality.

The supply story is the more useful part. Regional disruption pushed VerraPak to diversify raw material sourcing beyond China, which had supplied all of its imports; it now buys from India, the United States and Europe and arranges road shipments from Turkey. The company says it kept supplying all of its brand customers, including quick-service restaurant chains, through the disruption, and still exports to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Tunisia and Morocco, although higher freight costs remain a brake on export growth while UAE demand strengthens.

The circularity figures are specific and modest. PET production waste, including skeleton scrap, goes back to the sheet supplier, and recycled waste makes up 30% of the raw material used for sheet; PET lid waste is recycled fully, while only 5 to 10% of paper waste is. Solar power runs the machinery during the 12-hour day shift, with on-site generation up more than tenfold in 2025 to 2,660 MWh. All of this sits inside the UAE’s single-use plastics ban, whose second phase from 1 January 2026 covers plastic beverage cups and lids, cutlery, plates, straws, stirrers and Styrofoam food containers, and applies to import and trade as well as manufacture.

The same week, Saudi Printing & Packaging agreed to sell its UAE polypropylene cup lines at a loss (see below). In food-service packaging, scale, material flexibility and secured feedstock are separating the converters that invest from those that exit. One caveat: the AI-run plant is an intention with no published budget or site. The 25% expansion is the concrete commitment.

Why it matters for packaging and manufacturing teams. If you buy cups, lids or containers from regional converters, treat freight as a moving cost and ask suppliers where their resin and sheet come from and how much buffer stock they hold. If you sell plastic food-service items into the UAE, your range has to comply with the single-use ban. And if you run thermoforming or cup lines, 30% recycled sheet input and full lid-scrap recovery are becoming normal expectations, so scrap handling, granulation and material changeover belong in the specification of any new line.

Saudi Arabia

Zahrat Al Waha’s revenue jumps 52% on volume and price. The Tadawul-listed plastic packaging maker reported Q3 2026 revenue of SAR 185.72 million, up 52.4% year on year, and net profit of SAR 16.86 million, up 180%, driven by higher sales volumes and selling prices. Quarter on quarter, profit fell 22.9% as cost of sales grew faster than sales. In July, the chairman linked higher costs and prices to raw material volatility and shipping costs caused by regional developments.

Saudi Printing & Packaging sells its UAE cup lines at a loss. The company agreed to sell the polypropylene cup and plastic container lines of its UAE unit CUPCO for SAR 1.12 million, against a book value of SAR 6.1 million, booking an estimated SAR 5 million non-cash loss. It framed the sale as an exit from low-margin single-use plastics and part of its debt restructuring; accumulated losses stood at 93.22% of capital at 30 June 2026.

Tier status: two listed-company items, both about plastics margins; no new industrial-licence bulletin or SFDA packaging rule surfaced in the window.

GCC

ADNOC opens AED 60 billion of local manufacturing demand. On 25 October ADNOC unveiled more than AED 60 billion of local manufacturing opportunities through 2030, covering over 200 essential products and critical spare parts, with supplier registration up to 80% faster and procurement cycles up to 40% shorter. Packaging is not named among the categories, so the effect on packaging is indirect, through broader UAE industrial demand.

Tier status: thin. UAE-only beyond the lead story; no verified packaging news in the window from Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait or Oman.

World

Smurfit Westrock puts a USD 700 million figure on cost inflation. On its 28 October Q3 call, the company said energy and freight inflation will add about USD 700 million of costs in 2026, with diesel alone adding USD 120 to 130 million in North America. It cut its 2026 adjusted EBITDA outlook to USD 4.7 billion and said price increases are its main recovery lever.

GS1 pushes 2D barcodes ahead of Sunrise 2027. About 2,000 retailers and 1,900 brands have taken part in 2D code pilots or implementations, with the aim of retailers scanning them by the end of 2027. Brands must print both 1D and 2D codes for a transition period, which squeezes label space.

PMMI sees machinery demand rising. At Pack Expo International, PMMI said US packaging machinery shipments grew 2.3% in 2025 and projected 4.5% growth in 2026, adding that the leading use of AI on equipment is knowledge transfer, such as operator training and manuals turned into conversational assistants. The 2026 figure is a projection.

Tier status: a solid week for earnings and standards; the machinery figures cover the US only.

Sources

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