RIYADH will be the first port of call for Shaaban Steel Company, a Jeddah-based steel trading veteran, as part of an ambitious expansion venture to cover Saudi Arabia in its entirety.
“We intend to open a new branch in Riyadh this year and are looking forward to increasing our business manifold as a result of this move,” says Sami Shaaban, managing director.
As part of its development plans for the next year, the firm will also target major companies in the Gulf to further its growth in the region, he adds.
The company aims to achieve a 23 per cent growth rate in the coming years with the support of the new Riyadh branch and a new mobile sales department. In addition, Shaaban says the company will also rely on a huge new customer base and its experienced employees to achieve the growth target.
Other efforts to spearhead the company’s growth include the addition of two new products – sheets and plates – to its stainless steel category. The company provides stainless steel profiles, engineering steel, non-ferrous and polymers and tool steel and plastic moulds.
Shaaban Steel Company has been one of key suppliers of steel to Saudi Arabia for 40 years. “We have supplied all kinds of steel and industrial metals to many infrastructure projects in the kingdom, and some pioneering factory and government projects,” Shaaban says.
Some of Shaaban’s leading customers are Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), PetroRabigh and Safola.
Shaaban Steel provides customers with a number of value-added services. “We maintain state-of-the-art cutting and processing equipment, enabling us to handle exacting specifications,” says Shaaban. “In addition, we offer complete technical advice on size and grade selections, machining and fabrication, as well as on working out cost-efficient orders.”
Cutting stations are set up in every warehouse in order to respond to custom-cut requests for bars, square, hexagonal and tubes. “At all our workshops, we have automatic band saw machinery designed to produce optimum cuts under any working conditions and achieve high performance on critical jobs,” says Shaaban.
An efficient transportation network comprising a fleet of trucks ensures prompt deliveries between warehouses and customers every day, in the Jeddah area. “For customers outside Jeddah, we arrange delivery with the help of local shipping companies,” he says.
Shaaban says the company has kept pace with the kingdom’s industrial, urban and commercial progress, adding that the impact of the global downturn on the company has been “surprisingly small”.
Established in 1972, Shaaban Steel Company has three branches in Jeddah and one in Dammam, besides many warehouses in these cities.
