Opened in 1983, the Saudi Iron & Steel (Hadeed) plant was Saudi Arabia’s first fully integrated steel facility, manufacturing reinforcing bar (rebar), wire coil and sections. Contracts for an expansion project were awarded in 1996 to produce a range of flat products.

The 800,000-tonne-a-year (t/y) expansion cost $880m and was undertaken by Austria’s Voest Alpine Industrieanlagenbau (since taken over by Germany’s Siemens). A $165m direct reduced iron (DRI) plant was completed by Ireland’s Davy International in 1999.

Further expansions followed from 2004, including a $160m extension of the company’s hot mill and hot skin pass mill, a $40m paint coating line with capacity to handle 150,000 t/y of flat products and an $80m, 500,000-t/y rebar and wire rod mill.

A $380m project to add a new DRI plant, carried out by Siemens, was completed in 2007.

In December, Sabic announced it planned to make Hadeed an affiliate company, but said the move should not be seen as preparing it for sale. Sabic aims to complete the process by July/August.

In 2016, Hadeed installed a new oxide screen mesh that enables the use of undersize iron ore pellets, reducing wastage by 50,000 t/y.