Algeria, which has been steadily developing its steel industry during recent years and, moreover, moving towards more active steel exports, is going to develop another DRI-based production base in the future.
According to media sources, during the scheduled Italy-Algeria Business Forum to be held in Rome, an agreement is to be signed for an approximate $1 billion investment in Algeria for a new DRI unit. The aim of the participants is to establish production of low-emission steel in a context of full energy transition. The agreement is to be signed by an international consortium of steel producers, including Italy’s former Ilva and Duferco Group. The details of the investment are not disclosed yet, particularly the location, while the expected capacity is estimated at 2.5 million mt per year, SteelOrbis understands.
The project is considered to be in the framework of the current trends of global steel industry developments, which include lower and overall controlled CO2 emissions. In fact, Algeria, like the MENA region in general, is highly suitable for DRI-based production due to natural gas availability.
The planned DRI unit will be the third one established in Algeria, while the first two belong to Algerian Qatari Steel (AQS) and Tosyali Algerie with capacities of 2.5 million mt and 5 million mt in total, respectively.