Bahrain has seen significant developments in the industrial field in recent months.

While major manufacturing facilities accomplished big expansions or are in the process of doing so, a heartening development was the announcement that investors have agreed to back 15 industrial projects in the aluminium sector worth a total of $142 million in Bahrain. Although the size of the overall investment is not too large, it could herald similar investment initiatives in the future.
Kuwait Finance House had previously announced it was interested in 11 of the 15 projects, but it now says it will be involved in all of them. The company has made its own feasibility studies and has concluded it would be viable for it to invest in the projects either with partners or on its own.
Some 36 letters of intent were signed for the projects after two days of meetings on the sidelines of the ‘Invest in Aluminium Business’ forum organised by the UN Industrial Development Organisation and held in co-operation with the Bahraini Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
With some 86 representatives of investors from 17 countries including the UK, Germany, France, China, Germany and the GCC states, the forum was a successful exercise in identifying opportunities and examining financial resources. It is possible other initiatives will follow as a result of the forum.
If all goes well, projects valued at between $579,000 and $70.4 million will materialise for the island kingdom. From details available, the companies will include a factory making aluminium bodies for refrigerated and non-refrigerated trucks, a plant for aluminium accessories, a factory for aluminium-based master alloys, a grill factory, an aluminium spacers project, a coils factory, a cross-linked polyethylene insulated cables plant, a die cast aluminium automobile and automobile parts factory, a foil powder plant, a metallised film pant, a paste plant, a rigid polyurethane sandwich panels plant, a secondary billet plant and a factory for printed aluminium foil laminates and multi-layer co-extruded film laminates.
“The aluminium sector is bursting with promise,” says Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro. That promise encouraged Aluminium Bahrain to go in for an expansion that put it in the league of giant aluminium smelters, becoming in effect the largest modern single-site smelter at 830,000  tonnes per year. Another expansion is only a matter of time considering the market is insatiable for the metal.
Garmco also underwent an expansion and is in the process of utilising continuous casting technology for further upgrades and for meeting demands from its markets. Midal Cables has become the world’s largest producer of aluminium rods and conductors with a capacity hike that takes effect in January 2006.
In other industrial sectors, there has been progress. Gulf Industrial Investment Company (GIIC), the Middle East’s only iron pelletisation plant, is in the process of doubling its production capacity to a little over 9 million tonnes per year.
A 90,000 tonnes per year cold rolled stainless steel mill, initiated by GCC public and private investors, is under construction. Promoters of United Stainless Steel Company (USCO) describe it as the first of its kind in Bahrain and the region with the closest similar facilities being in Italy and India. Investment for the plant is more than $200 million.
Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) is considering an upgrade, its last expansion having taken place six years ago and its markets having grown down the years.
Unprecedented demand for building materials to feed the ongoing construction boom in the region prompted Khaleej Finance and Investment and Bahrain Motor Company to set up a $45 million cement venture. Falcon Cement Company will produce clinker directly from basic raw materials such as limestone, iron ore, bauxite and other additives and construction is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2006.