A series of expansions launched by Saudi Iron and Steel Company (Hadeed) will see it doubling its flat products capacity as well as raising long products’ output capability by the end of 2006.

Hadeed’s production capacity has grown from time to time and last year, it produced 3.9 million tonnes of long and flat steel products compared with the original design capacity of 800,000 tonnes of long products in 1983. Upon the completion of expansion projects by the end of 2006, Hadeed’s capacity will increase to approximately 5.5 million tonnes of long and flat steel products.
The company has signed an agreement with Saudi Voest Alpine and another with a consortium consisting of the Austrian Voest Alpine Industrieanlangenbau and Company and the US Midrex Technologies Incorporation for establishing a direct reduction plant with an annual production capacity of 1.7 million tonnes.
The plant will use state-of-the-art technology that will enable it to produce hot directly reduced iron, which will increase the production of the steel plant by 15 per cent.
Hadeed also signed an agreement with two consortia - one consisting of Saudi Voest Alpine and Siemens Saudi Arabia, and the other comprising Voest Alpine Industrieanlangenbau and the German firm Siemens Aktiengesellschaft. The consortia will work for establishing a steel plant.
The steel plant will comprise an electric arc furnace with an annual production capacity of 1.4 million tonnes of liquid steel, and a continuous casting machine with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes of steel slabs.
Earlier, Hadeed flagged off the expansion of its long products facilities when it signed an agreement with Italy’s Daniell Company and Saudi Dywidag Company to instal a new rebar and wire rod mill with an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes.
The expansions are necessary with demand growing very fast in the wake of construction activities in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the GCC region.
Hadeed’s existing flat product steel plant incorporates a 150-tonnes ultra-high power (UHP) electric arc furnace, a ladle furnace and a continuous slab-casting machine with an annual capacity of more than 0.9 million tonnes of steel slabs. The caster is capable of producing slabs of 220 mm in thickness, 900 mm and 1,650 mm in width and up to 11.9 m length.
The company’s flat products rolling mills comprise a hot strip mill, a cold mill complex and finishing facilities.
The hot-strip mill has an annual design production capacity of 850,000 tonnes of hot rolled coils of 1.5 mm thickness and 900 to 1,650 mm width. The hot-rolled coils meet the international standards including construction and high-quality grades.
The cold mill complex includes:
• A push pickling line with an annual capacity of 456,000 tonnes. The line is designed to process strips ranging from 1.4 mm to 6 mm of thickness, whilst the width ranges from 850 mm to 1,650 mm;
• A  reversing mill with an annual capacity of 360,000 tonnes. It produces strips in a thickness range from 0.3 mm to 3 mm and a width range from 850 mm to 1650 mm;
• A batch annealing facility with an annual capacity of 150,000 tonnes;
• A temper mill with an annual capacity of 411,000 tonnes;
• A continuous hot-dip galvanising line with an annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes. This line produces coils with thickness ranging from 0.3 mm to 2 mm and a width range of 850 mm to 1,400 mm.
• A cold slitting and recoiling line with an annual capacity of 186,000 tonnes.
The steel major’s long products steel plant converts sponge iron and ferrous scrap into steel billets. It consists of three electric arc furnaces, ladle transfer cars, two ladle furnaces and three six-strand continuous billet casting machines. The casting machines convert the liquid steel into billets, producing approximately 2.8 million tonnes annually.