United Gulf Steel (UGS), whose medium section rolling mill is producing close to half a million tonnes per annum, will soon emerge as a big player in the steel business following plans to set up two additional plants.

The expansions entail building a heavy section mill with an annual capacity of 600,000 tonnes and a steel-making plant over 700,000 tonnes capacity, UGS head of sales and marketing Farraj Al-Jasser said.
“Feasibility studies have been completed and initial steps towards the projects should soon get underway,” he said.
The company is certified to ISO 9001:2000 and EN ISO 9001:2000 and all products undergo stringent quality control at its fully equipped in-house laboratory, according to Al-Jasser.
UGS is a limited liability company with Mazen K Allahiq as the major shareholder. It has no subsidiaries.
During 2006/2007 it added 31 new sections, to meet the growing require-ments of the market.
The company sources its steel billets, the basic raw material, in Brazil, Iran. Qatar, Ukraine and Turkey.
“During 2007 we concentrated largely on our commitment to end users in the region to support projects for transmission towers by supplying high quality equal angles and pre engineered buildings. We also remained focused on the Iraqi demand for I-beams,” Al-Jasser said.
“The demand in 2007 was ever growing and the trend continues during 2008. I beams accounted for 47 per cent per cent of sales last year followed by equal angles which contributed 35 per cent,” the official said.
He affirmed that UGS was committed to supporting the GCC market although the company has been exporting, for strategic reasons, to Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Egypt and India among other markets. UGS has not been able to export in large quantities because of the need to cater to the local GCC demand.
“UGS will continue to focus on fulfilling demand in the GCC area and will support the reconstruction of Iraq. During 2007, UGS was largely involved in the transmission tower project and made uninterrupted supplies to Iraq,” Al-Jasser said.
He voiced concern over the dumping of substandard steel products by large international companies from outside the region who clearly wanted to capitalise on the region’s construction boom.