Al Rashed Building Materials (BMD), which has become a major building materials supplier in the Gulf’s construction sector, predicts a more volatile market in 2007 due to fluctuating global prices.

However, assistant general manager Majed Mohamed Al Sulim doesn’t foresee any business downslides and anticipates higher sales turnovers from the end user. In fact, the company has opened five new branches this year: four in Saudi Arabia and one in Abu Dhabi, to further enhance its presence and ensure a full coverage of the regional market.
Established in Al Khobar in 1950, BMD has more than 34 branches throughout Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, with a workforce of 700.
BMD’s product line includes commercial steel, steel sheet, pipes, tubes, steel bars, hardwood, softwood and wood-based panels, providing supplies and materials to all the major players, including the Amiantit and Binladin groups.
Recently completed projects include Qatar’s Islamic Museum, as well as Doha’s Al Raeem Tower and Golden Tower; the Al Jamrat Bridge and the King Abdul Aziz Wakeef project in Makkah; a cement factory in Riyadh and the Kharasnia project in Jubail.
BMD is part of the wll-diversified Rashed Al Rashed and Sons Group of Companies, which recently celebrated its 56th anniversary.
Al Sulim says the firm also markets its manufactured steel products, including galvanised and PVC-coated wires; chain-link fences; barbed, black, annealed and bailing wires; reinforcing wires in bars and coils; welded wire and block mesh; corrugated pre-painted, galvanised and black sheets; and cable armouring wires.
“We cater to wide range of industries, including construction, household appliances and steel fabrication,” he adds. “We are one of the main distributors for Hadeed flat products.
We import mainly from Japan, Korea Taiwan, Indonesia, South Africa, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Egypt, and India.”
BMD offers a wide range of high-quality steel beams/merchant bars as well as a broad range of cold and hot-rolled, hot-dipped galvanised and electro-galvanised coils/sheets,  galvanised iron prepainted, corrugated steel steets, aluminium sheets, stainless steel sheets, galvansied grating panels and special steels.
BMD also offer high-quality pipes and tubes certified according to international Standards. BMD offers both mild steel black and galvanized pipes, distributing products from major mills in Saudi Arabia and other GCC states.
The firm also provides a full range of hardwood species in most dimensions, particularly red oak, white ash, cherry, walnut, maple, beech, African teak, mahogany and Swedish redwood.
Al Sulim says BMD guarantees consistent quality with highest level of service ensuring customer satisfaction.
"We are committed to developing new resources as well as widening and deepening our customer,” he remarks. “Our products are mainly used in furniture industry, joinery products, and architectural interiors where a high degree of dimensional stability, durability, strength and elegance are required,” he adds.
BMD imports hardwood from the US, Canada, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The company imports various kinds of whitewood, including spruce, pine and fir, from Romania, Austria, Chile, Sweden, Canada, Russia and New Zealand.
“Our products are mainly used in construction and industrial sectors,” he reiterates.
BMD is heavily involved in marketing whitewood of various origins to match customer requirements exactly from its broad supply base.
The pioneer construction materials supplier has its own complete infrastructure support including well-maintained large warehouses, yards, showrooms, and branch offices all over the Kingdom.