According to a report released by the Arab Iron and Steel Union (AISU), the output of the main Arab crude steel producing companies has shown a significant increase during the first five months of 2010. The crude steel production of these companies amounted to 6.72 million metric tons, rising by 26.3 percent as compared to the corresponding period of 2009.
In the January-May period this year, Saudi Arabia's Hadeed SABIC came first as the largest crude steel producer among Arab companies with an output of 2.24 million metric tons as compared to 1.78 million metric tons produced in 2009, i.e., up by 26.17 percent year on year. Meanwhile, Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) began crude steel production for the first time in 2010.
In the given period, Qatar Steel achieved the highest production increase rate of 91.4 percent, with 823,000 metric tons of crude steel production up from 430,000 metric tons in January-May 2009. The company also posted the highest month-on-month increase of 20 percent in May.
Meanwhile, in the January-May period of this year ArcelorMittal's Morocco-based rebar producing subsidiary SONASID increased its crude steel output by 32 percent year on year to 249,000 metric tons.
In the given period, Egyptian companies ramped up their production by 13.5 percent, as compared to the first five months of the previous year, with an output of 2.53 million metric tons, with Ezz Steel ranking first among Egyptian crude steel producers.
On the other hand, according to preliminary figures for the first five months of this year, crude steel production of Libya Iron and Steel Company (LISCO) declined by 27.7 percent, regressing to 339,000 metric tons, while ArcelorMittal's Algerian unit ArcelorMittal Annaba's crude steel output continued to decline for the second year in a row, with 195,000 metric tons as compared to 232,000 metric tons for the same period of 2009.