Value of Middle East eyewear market reaches USD2 billion
In the Middle East, the market for high-end ophthalmic products and branded optical aids is now worth over USD 2 billion.
Regional consumers spend significant amounts on the purchase of prescription lenses and frames, sunglasses, contact lenses and assorted eye care products, thanks to their relatively high purchasing power and the extreme climatic conditions in which they live.
However, opticians and public health experts have expressed concern that levels of patient education regarding optical health are not high enough in the region. Typically, opticians recommend that people visit a trained optician every year, but the evidence suggests that insufficient numbers of people in the region are managing to do this, for a range of economic and social reasons.
More: ameinfo.com
Related Travel Information
India's IT exports to the Middle East experienced a 25 percent growth to $359 million in 2003-04 compared to $272.3 million in the previous fiscal year, Gulf News reported.
This includes $149.87 million of IT exports to the UAE, of which electronics and computer hardware represent $99.78 million.
These exports, however, are much lower than those to India's largest market, the United States.
Electronics manufacturing outsourcing business or original equipment manufacturing (OEM) is also driving the growth of India's electronics exports to the Middle East.
India's electronics hardware exports jumped 33 per cent to $18.99 billion in the last fiscal ended
Middle East Reports Air Engine Growth
Industry analysts said the air engine market was expected to grow rapidly over the next five years in wake of a series of major aerospace orders by Gulf Arab and other countries in the Middle East. The orders included both military and civilian aircraft.
At the Dubai-2005 air show in the United Arab Emirates, companies announced orders of more than $20 billion. Most of the major deals involved civilian aircraft sales to such countries as Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
The British-based Rolls-Royce, the second largest aircraft engine maker after General Electric, has experienced strong growth
Headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Locus Telecommunications, an established, leading provider of prepaid services and one of the nation's largest prepaid long distance calling card suppliers, proudly announces the newest addition to their GEO line of continental calling cards... GEO Asia. Now available nationwide, this new card is expected to be as successful as its counterparts, GEO Europe and GEO Africa. Highly anticipated in the prepaid calling card industry, GEO Asia represents the best alternative for end-user's looking to reach the Middle East and Asia. Known for quality and reliability, the GEO brand also offers the most competitive minutes in
Extraordinary growth expected in US exports to Middle East
DUBAI — With many Arab nations signing free-trade agreements (FTAs) with the US, trade and industry associations are projecting extraordinary growth in US exports to the Arab world, the Times of Oman newspaper reported yesterday.
US exports to the Arab world are expected to record a 38 per cent jump from 2004 to top $26 billion in 2005, according to the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programmes.
A further 40-per-cent rise is expected in 2006 to $38 billion, the bureau reported, quoting the US-Arab Chamber of Commerce.
Saudi Arabia, the largest US
SCT Co, the international trading arm of the Siam Cement Group, expects sales in the Middle East to grow by 30% next year from a record two billion baht this year to tap growing wealth in the region, according to the managing director Kalin Sarasin. ``We're confident that our Middle East centres will perform very well this year despite having only one representative office. Sales are expected to grow by at least 30% next year,'' he said.
SCT's promising results have been attributed to skyrocketing oil prices, which have made a lot of money for oil-rich countries, particularly the United Arab