Mideast's retail sector untouched by global crisis say industry leaders

Dubai: The retail sector in the Middle East is relatively safe from the fallout of the global financial crisis despite a global downturn in consumer spending, the managing director of Sharaf Electronics, Yasser Sharaf, said at Gitex on Tuesday.

"In the Middle East I don't think there will be an impact and if there is, it will be really minor, especially if you look at Dubai itself," said Sharaf.

"Dubai is a growing city; the number of people moving to the city day by day is increasing. If you look at the city as a whole, the country as a whole, it is an emerging country, so what do you need? Me as a seller, what do I need? I definitely need people to sell my products. The government here is attracting more and more people so I don't think as a consumer business there will be much worry. So far there is no slowdown in sales, nothing noticeable yet," he added.

Emerging markets

He was speaking at the launch of General Electric's range of digital cameras, which Sharaf Electronics will distribute in the region.

Reha Buhay, senior vice president of General Imaging, said the company was looking to emerging markets, like the Middle East, to buoy it against the impact of the crisis in the US and Western Europe.

"I think we are going to see a 10 to 15 per cent slow-down in consumer spending for the fourth quarter," said Buhay. "We are hoping that it's only for the fourth quarter, we hope that by next year it will get better.

"The US market is declining, but it's still a big market, about 30 million units, the worldwide market is around 100 million units, but a lot of the growth is in the emerging markets.

"The Middle East is showing double-digit growth, South America is double digit growth per annum so we are expanding in that way. Eastern Europe is also registering strong growth, but Western Europe is basically stagnant, the US is declining, Japan is declining even further," he said.

New models

Chairman and chief executive of General Imaging Hiroshi Hugh Komiya added that despite the decline, the company had secured three per cent of the market in digital cameras in the US during its first year.

Worldwide, it enjoyed a 1.5 per cent share, he said.

The company launched four models of its digital camera ranging from seven to 12 megapixels models.