Oman’s Jindal Shadeed Iron & Steel (JSIS), one of the main steel producers in the GCC, is proceeding with production of wire rod at its newly-installed facility, regional sources report. The company started trials at its new 500,000 mt per year wire rod line in April this year and is now getting ready to enter the commercial segment, in June according to its expectations. “The expectation for now is 18,000-20,000 mt of wire rod monthly,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
The market players in the GCC expect JSIS to start selling wire rod to the domestic market in Oman, and in the short term it is quite possible to see supplies from Oman to the neighboring countries. Some sources have already reported that there are offers from Oman to the UAE. However, selling within the region would be challenging, many suggest, since the Saudi Arabian market is closed, the Emirati market is not that big and already has local production, while consumption in Kuwait and Bahrain of wire rod is described as “negligible”.
In the meantime, exports to distant markets are not excluded. “They will try [selling] around the world because the production capacity is far more than the Middle East market intake,” a trader noted. However, trade to Asia would be quite challenging due to the low prices in the region, while sales to Europe would be impacted by the current situation in the Red Sea, sources assume.
For now, along with the newly-established wire rod facility, JSIS is operating a 1.8 million mt DRI/HBI module, a 2.4 million mt crude steel production capacity, and 1.4 million mt rebar and 700,000 mt section mills. The latest investment, according to local media, is a part of the JSIS project to increase its overall production capacity to 9 million mt per year, which will make the company one of the largest steel manufacturing units in the region.