Tuesday, 25 January 2011 at 10:52, Reuters, Dubai
Abu Dhabi's Emirates Steel said on Tuesday that it increased its finished steel output by 17.5 per cent in 2010 and is betting on a recovery in the Gulf construction sector to boost demand in 2011.
Emirates Steel is a subsidiary of government-owned Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation (Adbic). "With signs of a recovery already showing for 2011, we believe that infrastructure projects will accelerate the region's recovery in the next couple of years," Mubarak Al Khaili, Emirates Steel's vice president of commercial strategy said in a statement.
The company's rebar production posted a 7.5 per cent increase in 2010 compared with the previous year, while wire rod output jumped by a 64.5 per cent in the same period. It did not provide a forecast on how much the output would rise this year.
Rebar, billet and wire rod are semi-finished and finished products in the form of long steel, mainly used in the construction industry.
Several experts see the jumps in steel output and sales revenues for 2010 as expected due to the very low base year 2009, when global recession knocked steel demand worldwide and forced steelmakers to sharply cut production.
The company sells around 80 per cent of its finished products in the local markets, while the rest is exported to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait and Far East as well.
Al Khaili said other drivers of demand in the region would come from projects in the oil and gas industry, petrochemicals sector as well as infrastructure projects.
Emirates Steel has annual output capacity of 2 million metric tonnes now, with capacity expected to reach 3 million metric tonnes in 2011 through a $2.45 billion expansion plan.
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