Saudi Arabia to launch 3 projects worth SAR 35 bln in iron, steel sector

Bandar Alkhorayef Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources

Bandar Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, announced today, Sept. 12, Saudi Arabia’s national plan for restructuring the iron and steel industry.

Through the National Industrial Development Center, the plan will be developed in coordination with global experts and in partnership with related government authorities and steel producers in the Kingdom, so as to ensure the sector’s sustainable growth.

The plan includes 41 recommendations to empower and sustain the sector, most of which will bs revealed soon, Alkhorayef noted.

Under this plan, the Kingdom will seek to fill the gap of other industrial products by nearly 75%. Saudi Arabia aims to localize all types of steel products and slash imports by up to 50%.

The ministry is working on several investment opportunities, including three under-development projects in the local iron and steel sector, at a total investment cost of SAR 35 billion and a combined production capacity of 6.2 million tons.

This includes the establishment of an integrated complex for steel sheets, with an estimated production capacity of 1.2 million tons. The project targets the construction of ships, oil pipelines, platforms and large oil tanks.

Additionally, a fully-fledged complex will be set up for producing flat steel, for which discussions are underway with foreign investors. The ministry targets an on-site production capacity of four million tons of hot rolled steel, one million tons of cold rolled steel, in addition to 200,000 tons of tinplate steel and others.

The third project will see the building of a factory for the manfacturing of round iron bars, with an annual production capacity of one million tons, Alkhorayef explained during the second edition of Saudi International Iron & Steel Conference (SIIS), which kicked off in Riyadh today.