Events

BMR event brings together Middle East recyclers

The sixth edition of the Bureau of Middle East Recycling (BMR) International Conference was at the Madinat Jumeirah hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), March 4-5, 2017. BMR President Salam Al Sharif, chairman of the UAE-based Sharif Group, says more than 450 metal producers, traders, recyclers and consumers from around the region and world gathered for the event.

Sharif spoke at the conference, with his presentation covering the “Shifting Global Economic Landscape and its Effect on Base Metals.” He said fundamentals have been more recently playing a heavier “rational role” in the supply and demand balance of base metals.

Sharif remarked that while the petro dollar earlier had been the main contributor to the massive growth of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, its sharp decline in value “has shifted a trade surplus to deficit, investment to austerity, expansion to contractions and [led to] a diversity [away from] oil.”

The impact of these global trends on the Middle East, where the oil price appears to determine the fate of so many sectors, has been especially hard, Sharif said.