Announcing this, Kamil Al-Jawhari, project manager of Saudi PPSG at Riyadh Exhibitions Company, said the Saudi printing market is currently worth around SR1.5 billion and is poised for further growth in step with the Middle East’s rapidly recovering advertising sector. Advertising budget in the region jumped 24 percent over 2009 to SR51.4 billion in 2010, consequently driving huge demand for printing, packaging, signage and graphics services.

Saudi advertising expenditure rose 6 percent in 2010 compared to a 4 percent slide in 2009 and is expected to gain further momentum this year given the Kingdom’s status as the region’s biggest economy.

The Kingdom’s commercial printing market alone is estimated to be worth over SR1.38 billion, thus requiring more efficient and advanced equipment and services to meet expanding industry demands. Seeking to support the sustained growth of the Saudi printing market, Saudi PPSG, recognized as the Gulf’s premier printing, packaging, signage and graphics trade fair, will showcase the latest technologies and solutions for the Kingdom’s growing printing, packaging, signage and graphics requirements.

“Reenergized advertising spend in the Middle East is driving huge demand in various printing products and services,” Al-Jawhari said.

“In Saudi Arabia we are seeing bigger investments in machinery and technology to keep pace with the evolving needs of business and individual customers,” he said.

He said Saudi PPSG aims to bring in solutions that can help printing, packaging, signage and graphics companies streamline their operations and costs, while delivering the highest levels of quality to a very demanding local market.

Saudi PPSG is a bi-annual platform that draws in exhibitors and visitors from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

The latest edition will run concurrently with Saudi Plas 2011 and Saudi Petrochem 2011 — the 10th International Plastics and Petrochemicals Trade Fair, and will cover in-house graphics, production, manufacturing and custom fabrication.

It will showcase several new formats and cross-media concepts and provide a global industry perspective.