The UAE packaging market is large by regional standards, with 2025 market estimates generally landing in the USD 10-11 billion range. At the same time, tighter rules on single-use products and bags are pushing the market toward food-safe, recyclable, and paper-based solutions. That shift matters because many of the country’s best-known converters are already active in food packaging, folding cartons, corrugated boxes, labels, and premium printed formats.
This article is not a strict revenue ranking. Most companies in this space are privately held, and public financial disclosure is uneven. Instead, this is a verified overview of the UAE’s most visible and established printing and packaging players, based on operating footprint, product scope, expansion activity, and market presence.
1. Hotpack Global
Hotpack is one of the best-known packaging manufacturers in the UAE. The company says it was established in Dubai in 1995 and has grown into a multinational business with more than 29 locations across the Middle East, the UK, North America, Malaysia, and India. On its official site, Hotpack describes itself as the largest manufacturer in the region and says its manufacturing footprint extends beyond two million square feet.
For paper packaging buyers, Hotpack is relevant because its UAE footprint covers several adjacent segments rather than just one niche. Its factories page lists a Paper Cup & Board Division in Umm Al Quwain, while other UAE facilities cover labels, flexible packaging, injection moulding, and additional converting operations. The company’s paper cup division page says that unit alone operates from a 12,000-square-meter facility. Hotpack also broadened its corrugated position by acquiring Al Huraiz Packaging Industry in 2022.
2. Takamul Industries
Takamul Industries is headquartered in Saudi Arabia, but it has become increasingly important in the UAE packaging market. According to the company, its roots go back to the early 1990s through Al Jawad Plastic and Flexible Packaging, and it later expanded its portfolio through Al Jawad Carton in folding cartons.
Its UAE presence became much stronger after the acquisition of Express Print Pack, Express Flexi Pack, and Gulf Packaging Industries. Takamul’s official site says that this expansion strengthened its capabilities across corrugated, carton board, and flexible packaging. The company also states that it rebranded to Takamul Industries in 2023 and today operates through five specialized companies with more than 1,200 employees.
3. e7 Group
e7 Group is one of the most important listed print and packaging companies in the UAE. The company’s investor materials say it was established in 2006 as United Printing and Publishing (UPP) in Abu Dhabi and later expanded beyond traditional printing into security, packaging, education, and logistics. It rebranded as e7 Group after its ADX listing.
What makes e7 different from many other converters is its mix of security printing and packaging. On its business pages, e7 says its packaging unit produces foldable boxes, disposable food packaging, frozen food packaging, and paper cups. Financially, the group reported AED 675.6 million in revenue for FY2025. Its 2024 integrated report also shows 1,387 full-time employees in 2024, which confirms that it remains a large industrial employer by UAE printing-sector standards.
4. Emirates Printing Press (EPP)
Emirates Printing Press is one of Dubai’s longest-established printing and packaging groups. Company materials describe EPP as operating in Dubai since 1974 and serving the market with packaging, labels, flexible laminates, rigid boxes, commercial printing, and digital printing.
Available company profiles consistently describe EPP as a large-scale operator. Public company descriptions state that EPP has five plants, more than 750,000 square feet of production space, and a workforce of 800+. Its core packaging offer includes folding cartons, rigid set-up boxes, flexible laminates and pouches, and self-adhesive labels, which makes it one of the UAE companies with the broadest print-and-pack mix.
5. Majan Printing and Packaging
Majan is a major name in folding cartons and paperboard packaging, especially for buyers looking at offset-printed cartons in the UAE. The company’s own site positions it as a one-stop solution provider for folding carton packaging, with strong exposure to food and beverages, healthcare and cosmetics, consumer products, and frozen food packaging.
Majan’s LinkedIn company profile lists the business as founded in 1995 and places its size in the 501-1,000 employee range. That makes it one of the more established carton-focused converters in the Emirates, even though many of the exact machinery and site-size claims circulating online are not clearly documented on the company’s current official pages.
6. Oriental Press Group
Oriental Press is older than most companies on this list. Its official history says the business was founded in Bahrain in 1952 and later built a broader regional footprint with manufacturing plants in Bahrain and Dubai and sales activity in the Middle East and Europe. The company also says it exports to more than 80 countries.
For packaging buyers, Oriental Press matters because it is not only a book printer. The group says it works across five business divisions: Books, Packaging, Commercial Printing, Security Printing, and Digital Printing. Its history page also notes the introduction of paperboard packaging in the 1980s and the establishment of a Dubai manufacturing facility in Jebel Ali.
7. Gulf Printing & Packaging (GPP)
GPP has become one of the most visible food-packaging specialists in Abu Dhabi. On its own site, the company says its story began in 1999 in Kuwait through Al Khat Packaging, and that the UAE business expanded in Abu Dhabi in 2014 before launching a major specialized food-packaging factory in 2018.
GPP’s current Abu Dhabi facility is listed at 25,000 square meters in KEZAD. In 2023, AD Ports Group announced an expansion agreement adding more than 45,000 square meters, bringing GPP’s total footprint in KEZAD to more than 67,000 square meters. AD Ports also described it as the largest food-grade packaging manufacturing facility in the emirate.
8. Arabian Packaging
Arabian Packaging is one of the UAE’s best-known corrugated board and carton producers. Al Ghurair Group’s official business page says the company was established in Dubai in 1982 and has operated from Jebel Ali Industrial Area since 2004. It reports a capacity of more than 100,000 tonnes and describes the plant as one of the largest and most technically advanced corrugated packaging facilities in the Middle East.
The company serves a broad customer mix, including agriculture, food and beverage, food delivery, industrial, and e-commerce segments. Arabian Packaging’s own site also calls it the leading manufacturer of corrugated packaging in the UAE.
9. Al Ghurair Printing & Publishing (AGPP)
Al Ghurair Printing & Publishing is the printing and publishing arm of Al Ghurair Investment. Public company descriptions place its founding in 1978, and Al Ghurair’s corporate site also identifies the division as dating back to that year.
AGPP is especially relevant in the non-corrugated print segment. Its company profile says it operates with 10 multi-colour sheetfed offset presses, 5 web offset presses, and 5 highly automated binding lines, and describes itself as having the largest printing and automated binding capacity in the UAE. That makes it a major industrial printer, even if it is not as packaging-focused as Hotpack, Arabian Packaging, or GPP.
10. Universal Carton Industries (UCI)
UCI is one of the key corrugated players in Ras Al Khaimah. Its official site says the company specializes in corrugated and printed boxes and serves sectors such as food and beverages, FMCG, pharmaceuticals, automobile, and trading. The site also lists a 34,000-square-meter facility, 300+ professionals, and monthly production of 8,000 tons.
RAKEZ has also documented UCI’s expansion. In a 2025 release, the economic zone said UCI began operations in 2014, was investing AED 55 million, and planned to expand production capacity to 100,000 tons per year. That makes UCI one of the strongest corrugated manufacturers outside Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Final takeaway
If you look at the UAE market through a buyer’s lens, the landscape becomes clear. Hotpack stands out for broad packaging scale and diversification. e7 Group is the most visible listed player with a mix of security and packaging. EPP, Majan, and AGPP are strong in print-led converting. Arabian Packaging and UCI are major corrugated names. GPP is increasingly important in food-grade packaging, while Takamul is strengthening its UAE role through acquisitions and integration.