Al Watania Steel, a Qatari trading firm which has its own cutting and bending facilities, will enter a new era in its operations when it opens fully fledged structural steel production mills in Qatar next year and Saudi Arabia in 2013.

Hot trials are currently underway at its structural steel plant in Qatar whose capacity will be 90,000 tonnes per year. A facility for long products is also being created with the same capacity.

The Qatar production facilities will boast a product range including angles, flat bars, channels and I and H beams made of construction steel grades and up to 200 mm.

The Qatar mills will be a big boon to the local market where there is only one steelmaker, Qatar Steel, which does not produce structural products.

Across the frontier, in Saudi Arabia, Al Watania Steel will start construction work in January next year of a plant in Saudi Arabia whose steelmaking shop will have annual capacity of 700,000 tonnes and rebar mill 500,000  tonnes.

The facilities come on stream in January 2013. Merchant square billets emerging from the facilities will be sold locally and exported to the Middle East. The Saudi plant will be part of the Arkan Al Solb investment project.

Currently, Al Watania Steel owns modern production facilities for cutting and bending rebars and is a leading supplier of the product in Qatar. The company has fully automatic and computerised machines capable of high volume product of various shapes.

Equipment includes German and Italian machines some of which are the Oscam shear line, bending robot systems and Schnell stirrups that are capable of forming all diameters of rebars. The facilities have a monthly production of 10 tonnes and have capability to deliver product promptly to consumers.