According to Saudi Press Agency, the country’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources is working with local and international investors to establish a variety of investment opportunities in the iron and steel industry. Three projects are under construction with a combined production capacity of 6.2 million mt and an investment value of around 35 billion riyals ($9.3 billion).
One of the projects is an integrated steel sheet production complex with a capacity of 1.2 million mt per year, focusing on shipbuilding, oil pipes and platforms, and enormous oil reservoirs.
Industry and mineral resources minister Bandar Al-Khorayef stated during his inaugural speech at the Saudi International Iron and Steel Conference that another project is being negotiated with international investors. The project entails building an integrated production complex with an annual capacity of four million mt of hot rolled steel and one million tons of cold rolled iron, as well as 200,000 mt of tin-plated steel and other products. The complex intends to serve the automotive, food packaging, household appliance and water transportation pipe sectors. Additionally, a plant will be established to produce round billets with an estimated production capacity of one million mt per year to be used in seamless pipe production.
Al-Khorayef pointed out that the Kingdom's priorities include localizing steel products of all types, such as heavy steel plates for the oil and gas sector, defense and construction sectors, tinplate steel for the canned food sector, the automobile sector, and water pipes.
“This will help us face and address global and local changes in order to ensure the sector's sustainability and resiliency in the face of economic and geopolitical variables,” the minister noted.
The Ministry is also working on reducing imports by 50 percent, with an emphasis on maintaining a financially and operationally sustainable sector and ensuring the availability of critical supply chains such as iron ore.