Hadeed to stop rebar exports

01 April 2004
Saudi Iron & Steel Company (Hadeed)is to stop exporting reinforced steel (rebar) to prevent domestic shortages in the key construction material. The move comes in response to contractor fears that the kingdom is facing imminent shortages caused by its construction boom and a global shortage of the raw materials used to make steel.

Demand in the kingdom for rebar has jumped by an estimated 11 per cent in the last 12 months and is forecast to exceed local capacity this year. In the past Hadeed has exported as much as 25 per cent of its output. A jump in domestic demand had already seen this figure reduced to about 5 per cent. Now it is to be cut altogether by July.

'We are planning to stop exports of rebar,' Hadeed commercial manager Ibrahim al-Rashed told MEED on 23 March. 'We will stop our export of long products only. The plan is to stop after we deliver what has been contracted already, that is estimated to be by the early part of the third quarter.'

Demand in Saudi Arabia in 2003 was about 3.6 million tonnes. Al-Rashed said he expected the figure to reach 4 million tonnes this year. Hadeed's total production of long products will be about 2.6 million tonnes in 2004. Even allowing for the 1.2 million tonnes of rebar produced by the country's local private mills, there will still be a shortfall in domestic supply in the kingdom. 'The shortage will be covered by imports mainly from GCC producers,' said Al-Rashed.

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