Al Ghurair steel plant start-up delayed

Abu Dhabi: The start-up of Al Ghurair Iron and Steel plant in Abu Dhabi has been delayed to May due to construction obstacles, officials said.

The $85 million cold rolling and galvanising plant, the first of its kind in the UAE, was due to start production in September to help meet demand from a booming construction sector.

"We hoped construction could be finished by the fourth quarter of last year, but this won't happen before March due to obstacles at the site," a company official said, without giving further details.

"Now we are aiming to ... start production this May," he said.

In the first phase of the project, the plant will produce 100,000 tonnes of hot rolled and pickled and oiled steel products, 50,000 tonnes of cold rolled full hard steel and 200,000 tonnes of galvanised materials.