UAE steel output to double in two years

Abu Dhabi: Steel production in the United Arab Emirates will double to 10 million tonnes per year by 2010 as the second-largest Arab economy reduces its reliance on oil, Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, UAE Minister of Economy, said yesterday.

The real estate and construction sector in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter would contribute 23 per cent to the economy in two years, up from 16 per cent in 2006, Shaikha Lubna said.

Growing demand

Steel producers are banking on demand from the construction industry across the world's biggest oil-exporting region, where more than $1 trillion worth of infrastructure projects are in the pipeline.

Production of steel would double from five million tonnes last year, Shaikha Lubna said at a construction conference in the UAE capital hosted by Middle East Economic Digest.

State-owned Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corp (Abdic) said this month it would invest $6.5 billion to build a plastics factory and expand a steel plant. Abu Dhabi's Al Ghurair Iron and Steel plant was also set to start its first line in March, an official said.