Emirates Steel is owned by the General Holding Company (GHC). Established in 1998, Emirates Steel is currently implementing a comprehensive business development plan. Once complete, the Company will be one of the largest and most competitive steel producers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The Company is evolving from its roots of being a simple and relatively low value-added processor of steel into a sophisticated, highly productive manufacturing business with a high added value business model.
Emirates Steel will be one of the major participants at Project Qatar 2013, the 10th Anniversary of the event. On this occasion, ifpinfo had the following interview with Engineer Saeed Ghumran Al Romaithi CEO of Emirates Steel.
When was your company established and by whom?
Emirates Steel is wholly owned by SENAAT, the UAE’s largest industrial conglomerate and a driving force for implementing the Abu Dhabi government’s industrial diversification policy.
Strategically located in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi, in Musaffah, Emirates Steel is the only integrated steel plant in the UAE, utilizing the latest technology to produce high quality rebar, wire rod and heavy sections.
Established in 1998, Emirates Steel grew in a relatively short period of time from a simple re-roller of imported steel billets to a complex integrated manufacturing plant, using modern solutions to meet market demand and to generate value for its various stakeholders.
What are the products and services you provide?
Emirates Steel’s product range includes straight length reinforcing bar (rebar) and rebar in coil, wire rod, hot rolled structural steel sections, which include beams, columns, channels, angles and sheet piles; direct reduced iron and steel billets.
Who are your target clients?
Emirates Steel supplies the construction and oil & gas sectors with bespoke and high quality steel products.
Is this your first time participating in Project Qatar, if not what was your feedback of the previous editions?
This is the second time we participate in Project Qatar. We believe that this exhibition is an important event for us, it has offered us many opportunities before and we plan this time also to showcase all our range of products for visitors to view.
Project Qatar is a very good exhibition. It’s a show that is growing every year so we needed to be present here. The benefit of being here at Project Qatar is to have direct contact with end customers and we were satisfied with the response we received in last year’s edition.
What are the products and services you will be displaying in Project Qatar 2013?
On display will be our heavy sections products. We are the only producer of jumbo and heavy sections in the Middle East and we have the capacity to produce a wide range of structural sections from approximately 200 to 1,000 millimeters in depth, including jumbo sections. The Company’s Heavy Sections Mill produces parallel-flange beams, columns and bearing piles with up to 1,016 millimeter web depth and 419 flange widths, up to 430 millimeter parallel flange channels, 250 millimeter angles, 750 millimeter U-sheet piles and 630 millimeter Z-sheet piles using 350×220 millimeter blooms and up to 1050x460x120 millimeter beam blanks as starting material.
We will also be showcasing our reinforced bar or rebar. Emirates Steel is a leading producer of hot rolled reinforcing bars. Rebar is a long steel product used exclusively in civil engineering and building projects to provide tensile strength to concrete.
The Company’s rebar is regarded as a premium quality product due to the sourcing of premium quality iron ore, the state-of-the-art assets used in the manufacturing process and the implementation of internal quality control procedures. In 2010, Emirates Steel was awarded certification to manufacture Grade B500B rebar and coil, in addition to Grade 460B.
Also we will showcase our wire rod products. Emirates Steel is recognized as one of the leading wire rod producers in the GCC. Wire rod is used in the construction sector and for a host of other product applications such as fencing materials, nails, pins and many engineering applications.
What are your expectations of the show and the market in general?
We expect that the show would provide us with an excellent venue to showcase our expertise in steel and open the doors for us to access the lucrative Qatari and GCC markets. According to the latest statistics, Qatar’s spending plans on infrastructure alone, in the five years leading up to 2016, are expected to total US$125 billion (Dh459.13bn). These include building a new airport, a metro line, numerous road and lighting projects, and Lusail City, the precinct that will host the 2022 World Cup final.
What is the size of the steel market in the region?
Steel demand in the Middle East, and the GCC in particular, remains stable, although the effects of the global difficulties are felt. In fact, the region is massively spending on improved housing and infrastructure; in the GCC alone, some $125 billion worth of construction and infrastructure projects are expected to be awarded in this and the next quarter.
In the UAE, steel demand has been stable in the past few years in the backdrop of continuing infrastructure projects, reliable and competitive gas and energy supplies, and investments in construction and other core sectors. The country therefore continues to enjoy sustained development and accordingly we believe there will be further room for growth in the long products, even rebar, which mainly serve construction and infrastructure:
GAGR 2012 – 2015 GCC ME [1]
Rebar 3.0% 4.9%
Wire Rod 6.4% 6.7%
Heavy Sections 8.5% 7.9%
All Long 4.0% 5.4%
[1] ME is GCC and Other ME, which here is Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen
Source: Emirates Steel Research
Market share of Emirates steel in the UAE compared to the region?
Our domestic market share increased in 2012 to approximately 60%. This has been achieved through targeted efforts to support key customers and by pursuing sales policies that assist in bringing stability to the local market.
Market share of Emirates Steel in Qatar?
Our goal is to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage by delivering benefits that exceed those of competing products and creating superior value for our Doha based customers. Emirates Steel currently sells around 80 per cent of its products in its local market with the balance being exported to countries like Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, India, China, Pakistan, and Qatar.
Emirates Steel’s rebar is regarded in Qatar and other GCC countries as a premium quality product due to the Company’s sourcing of premium quality iron ore and steel billets, its state-of-the-art assets used in the manufacturing process and the quality control procedures exercised by the Company.
High-yield deformed steel bars for concrete reinforcement in sizes 8 to 32 millimeters and 8 to 12 meter lengths are produced by a quenching process for superior mechanical properties to specifications ASTM A615 GR 60, BS 4449 (97) GR 460B, and BS 4449 (05) GR B500B. Deformed reinforcing coils are produced to specifications BS 4449/97 Grade 460B while plain wire rod is produced to steel grades AISI/SAE 1005 to 1038.
Competition between the regional steel producers and other international producers?
GCC and Middle East countries have been tipped to produce 35% to 40% of the world’s total steel production by 2015. At present, the steel market is dominated by neighboring nations such as China, India and Turkey. However, the scenario of the steel market in the GCC region is changing. The prime driver of this phenomenon is the realistic infrastructure investment plans of GCC governments.
The annual demand for steel products in the GCC region stands at over 40 million tons, and is expected to grow at 5% to 6% over the next five years. With some 67 steel plants currently in the Middle East region, with an investment valued at around $2.8 billion, the steel industry in the GCC region has attracted around $6.5 billion worth of investment to aid growth.
Steel manufacturers in the GCC are exerting efforts to integrate and consolidate their position through mergers and acquisitions. The GCC is expected to be one of the biggest in the global steel market, with by-products such as pipes and tubes.
ifpinfo
11 December
