Leading manufacturer of steel products Saudi Iron and Steel Company (Hadeed) has signed a contract with the Italian Danieli and the Saudi Dywidag to supply and set up a new plant for the production of steel reinforcing bars and wire rods with an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes beside the existing long product plants at Hadeed’s complex in Al Jubail Industrial City.

The new expansion is part of the company’s strategy to complete plant expansion projects and raise production capacity, in a serious bid to meet local and international demand, and first and foremost to supply the local market with the high-quality Sabic steel reinforcing bars.
Hadeed, a subsidiary of Saudi  Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) recently signed a deal in Dubai with Saudi Voest Alpine Company and another contract with the Austrian Voest Alpine Company and the US Midrex Technologies to establish a direct reduction plant at an annual capacity of 1.7 million tonnes of directly reduced iron. This ironwork will use modern technology to enable the company to produce hot reduced iron at temperatures as high as 600 deg C, increasing the steel plant’s production by 15 per cent.
Hadeed also signed an agreement with Saudi Voest Alpine, Saudi Siemens and another agreement with a consortium incorporating the Austrian Voest Alpine and German Siemens to set up a steel plant with an electrical arc furnace, with an annual production capacity of 1.4 million tonnes of molten steel, and a continuous steel casting facility with an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes of steel.
The signing ceremony was attended by Mutlak bin Hamad Al Morished, chairman of the board of directors of Hadeed and deputy chairman of Sabic for Financial Affairs, Gerhard Falch, board chairman of Voest Alpine, and the ambassadors of Austria to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The agreement was signed on behalf of Hadeed by Mohammed bin Saleh Al Jabr, Hadeed president and vice president of Sabic’s Metal Group.
Since its inception, Saudi Iron and Steel Company (Hadeed) has been seeking to increase the production capacity of its plants and to diversify its products. The annual production capacity in 2003 was 4 million tonnes of long and flat steel bars, compared with the annual design production capacity of 800,000 tonnes when production started in 1983.
When the expansion projects are completed by the end of 2006, Hadeed’s annual iron production capacity will increase from 4 million tonnes to 5.5 million tonnes of long and flat steel products.
Hadeed is regarded as the Arab world’s largest iron and steel producer. With the completion of the project, it will be the world’s largest directly reduced iron production plant.