ETA invests $80m in two steel plants

Dubai: ETA Ascon Star Group on Monday announced its foray into steel manufacturing.

The group is pumping in $80 million (Dh294.29 million in a new subsidiary, Star Steel International LLC, in setting up state-of-the-art Steel Rolling Mills - one to produce steel rebars and the other to produce steel structural sections at the Hamriyah Free Zone in Sharjah.

The expected production of steel rebars is 360,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) and steel structural sections is 240,000 TPA. Besides a 120,000 MTPA steel bar profiling (cut and bend) facility has been recently commissioned.

With an estimated annual turnover of $420 million, Star Steel International plans to start commercial production by the beginning of 2009, suitably timed with a revival in the steel market.

M.K. Abdul Razick, Executive Director of Star Steel International, said, "We have a strong presence in the steel trading business in this region, which we initiated in 2005. With Star Steel International we wish to consolidate our position in the steel manufacturing business in the UAE. We are in addition considering setting up our own steel melt shops in Abu Dhabi by the second quarter of 2009."

The UAE is one of the top steel consuming countries in the world with 1,333kg per capita compared to world per capita of 182kg and GCC per capita of 450kg.

Moreover, steel consumption across the GCC has increased significantly due to demand from construction and infrastructural development.

The UAE still depends on huge steel imports. Star Steel International hopes to cater to this demand and, with its new plants in place, its target contribution will be approximately 5 per cent of the UAE's total demand.