Oman-based steelmaker Al Jazeera Steel Products Company (Al Jazeera) has announced its financial results for 2016, stating that it registered a net profit of OMR 4.6 million ($11.95 million) for the given year, compared to a net profit of OMR 1.82 million recorded in the previous year. In 2016, the sales revenues of the company decreased by 1.43 percent year on year to OMR 68.29 million ($177.49 million). The company registered an operating profit of OMR 5.61 million ($14.58 million) in the given period, up 143 percent year on year.
In the given year, the company’s tube mill dispatch volumes were only marginally higher than 2015 volumes due to lower demand and increased competition. Furthermore, the company also had to face an antidumping investigation initiated by US petitioners on its pipe supplies to the US, which slowed dispatches in the third quarter. In the same year, the company recorded its best-ever dispatch volume of 168,194 mt in its merchant bar mill products division. Al Jazeera stated that it has started operating the merchant bar mill on a 24 hour basis since January this year and it expects to produce and sell an additional 5,000 mt of rebar products on a monthly basis. This increase in production will lead to over 70 percent capacity utilization from the present level of 55 percent.