The Pakistani government has announced that it has agreed with Russian government representatives to form working groups to establish a new steel mill in Karachi. 700 acres of land of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) has been earmarked for the new steel mill.
The proposed site’s proximity to Port Qasim will reduce cost of transportation of raw materials. In June this year, the Pakistani government decided to close PSM, which had ceased operations in 2015, releasing lands for industrial use, and was planning to establish a new steel plant on PSM’s land in collaboration with the Sindh provincial government, as SteelOrbis previously reported.
Meanwhile, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Pakistan’s minister for industries, production and national food security, has stated that, despite estimated reserves of 1.88 billion mt of iron ore, Pakistan is forced to import around $2.7 billion of iron and steel. Noting that there is a perpetual gap between domestic production of and demand for iron and steel, he said that the gap is estimated at 3.1 million mt for last year.