Riyadh, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef stated that the Ministry is working with local and international investors to establish a variety of investment opportunities in the iron and steel sector in the Kingdom. Three projects are being constructed, with a combined production capacity of 6.2 million tons and a value of around 35 billion riyals. The construction of an integrated iron sheet production complex with a capacity of 1.2 million tons per year is one of the projects, with the complex focusing on shipbuilding, oil pipes and platforms, and enormous oil reservoirs.
He 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 iron surface production complex with an annual capacity of four million tons of hot rolled iron and one million tons of cold rolled iron, as well as 200 thousand tons of tin-plated iron and other products. The complex intends to serve the automotive, food packaging, household appliances, and water transportation pipe sectors. Additionally, a factory will be established to produce circular iron blocks with an estimated production capacity of one million tons per year, which will be the main introduction to the oil and gas industry’s unwelded iron pipes.
Al-Khorayef emphasized that the National Plan for the Structuring of the Iron and Steel Sector contains 41 recommendations to enable and sustain the sector. These include reviewing and approving 16 policies and legislation, as well as collaborating with the private sector on a number of long-term solutions such as the establishment of an iron academy and a research and development center to increase the efficiency of factory operations and create high-quality jobs for Saudis. “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,” explained the Minister.
Al-Khorayef pointed out that the Kingdom’s priorities include localizing steel products of all types, such as heavy iron sheets for the oil and gas sector, defense and construction sectors, tinplate steel for the canned food sector, tinplate steels for the canned food sector, flat tinplate for the automobile sector, and water pipe, among others.
The Ministry is also working on reducing imports by 50%, with an emphasis on maintaining a financially and operationally sustainable sector and ensuring the availability of critical supply chains such as iron ore. The Minister emphasized that the Kingdom’s attempts to reinvigorate the iron sector stem from its confidence in the necessity of investing in this sector.
He noted that the establishment of motivating and appealing regulations and legislation defined by transparency, fairness, governance, and procedure facilitation promotes continued growth in strategic sectors.
Source: Saudi Press Agency