UAE-headquartered steel company Conares Metal Supply has announced that in mid-February 2011 it will start the commercial production of rebar at its site located in Jebel Ali Free Zone in the UAE.
Accordingly, groundbreaking for the construction of the new rebar facility with a 500,000 mt annual capacity took place in September 2008. Equipment has been supplied by the Italian subsidiary of the Austrian engineering and plantmaking company Siemens VAI. Billets for rebar production are sourced from the CIS, Turkey and from local suppliers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Conares currently has inventories of billet on the site.
Conares will sell rebar both in the domestic and export markets and, according to market sources, has already sold its first lot of 10,000 mt of rebar of February-March production to neighbouring countries, the names of which have not been disclosed.
In addition to its rebar facility, Conares operates a pipe and tube facility also located in Jebel Ali Free Zone with an annual capacity of 180,000 mt of ½"-4" ERW black pipes and tubes (round, square, rectangular), and of 36,000 mt of ½"-6" galvanized pipes. HRC and HDG for pipe and tube production are imported from Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India and Far East.
Meanwhile, Conares' steel service centre facility includes cut-to-length (thickness 0.3-6.0 mm, width 700-1,550 mm) and slitting (thickness 1.2-6.0 mm, width 700-1,550 mm).
Conares exports about 85 percent of its tubes and pipes to the US, Canada and the Middle East, while the remaining 15 percent of its products are sold in the domestic market.