The petrochemical and chemical industry must accelerate its transformation journey and invest in growth to remain a driver of the global economy and overcome rapidly evolving value chains.

That was the message from Yousef A Al Benyan, vice chairman and CEO of Sabic and chairman of the Gulf Petrochemical and Chemical Association (GPCA), as he addressed an audience of more than 2,000 industry leaders at the 13th Annual Forum of GPCA.

The two-day Forum is recognised as one of the most important events in the global chemical calendar and is designed to identify and address critical matters that will define the future of the industry in the Arabian Gulf region.

In his remarks, Al Benyan embraced the theme of this year’s conference, ‘Executing Transformation and Investing in Growth’, and drew on SABIC’s recent journey towards strategic change.

“It is a moment of change in the global economy”, he told the assembled industry leaders. “Given the structural challenges that our end-use markets and our suppliers are facing, we are bound for transformation.”

“Changes across value chain nodes are forcing global and GCC chemical industry players to evolve by focusing on portfolio, competitiveness, and growth measures. Industry players are taking action that are creating significant value for shareholders in global capital markets.”

“Players are also transforming their approach to capture growth with consolidation in the global hemisphere focused on achieving portfolio coherence and business synergies, while pushing for growth in the high growth Asian markets, such as China which aims to add around 21.4 million tons of Ethylene capacity between 2018 and 2025. However, there is still a need for more improvement. Companies must find new answers to fundamental business questions.”

Urging greater industry collaboration and ‘win-win’ partnerships, he said, “Transformation measures are being executed by GCC and global chemical players, we have to remain in an ‘always-on’ mode. Partnerships can leverage capital and risk sharing, capability sharing or collaborating for innovation and sustainability efforts. These measures are not new and we have been talking about them since quite some time now.

He concluded: “We must accelerate the joint efforts in creating partnerships through consolidation, portfolio exchange, which will create scale and value for all the players. Without these structural measures, we will not be able to compete with larger global players – both existing and new entrants.”

The GPCA represents the downstream hydrocarbon industry in the Arabian Gulf. Established in 2006, the association voices the common interests of more than 250 member companies from the chemical and allied industries, accounting for over 95 percent of chemical output in the Gulf region.