With the commissioning of a bar mill recently, Dammam-based Al Tuwairqi Group has taken a strong step forward in pursuit of its goal to become one of Asia’s top manufacturers of steel products and register annual output of over five million tonnes of world-class long and flat steel products.

Last month (March), the Makkah facility of the group’s Al Ittefaq Steel Products Company (ISPC) commenced production of a rolling mill that has an annual capacity of 1.35 million tonnes to produce reinforced steel bars, round bars, flats and special and high-quality steel.
The new unit is described as one of the world’s largest bar mills. The plant consists of two reheating furnaces, a welding rolling machine, 20 HV stands, a 1,200-m-long cooling bed and two bundling stations to handle finished bars of up to 18 m in length.
The new mill was an upgrade of a Sket-make rolling mill purchased from a party in Kladno, the Czech Republic. Reverse engineering, erection and commissioning of equipment was done in house by Al-Ittefaq Steel Products Co and equipment supplied by Danieli, MWE, SundBirsta, NCO and Scmemotori, among other companies.
The new mill has raised ISPC Makkah’s capacity to 1.85 million tonnes per year.
Another ISPC plant in Dammam upgraded its capacity to 1.5 million tonnes per year about a year ago.
A rolling mill of ISPC in Jeddah, ISPC-II, has been upgraded by a 100,000 tonnes to 450,000 tonnes to produce deformed concrete reinforcement bars of size 40 mm. 
Nearing completion is an integrated steel plant in Damam to produce over two million tonnes of flat steel products.
To achieve integration, Al Tuwairqi Group has installed two direct reduced iron (DRI) modules which operate on natural gas-based Midrex technology. These modules can produce more than 1.5 million tonnes of DRI annually.
In recent overseas ventures, the Tuwairqi Group has set up a DRI plant in Pakistan capable of producing 1.3 million tonnes annually. The group plans to build in its next phase a steel melt shop and a rolling mill to manufacture long steel products.
The group has a downstream plant in the UAE to produce 120,000 tonnes of cut and bend steel products. A profile welding unit has been set up in another facility.
A DRI plant in Bahrain is among the planned projects.
The group first ventured overseas to acquire in 2003 the Sheerness melt shop and other assets of Kent Company Thamesteel, UK, with the aim of boosting supplies of various billet grades to ISPC. Production currently at the melt shop is now a million tonnes per year, having increased from 600,000 tonnes when it was acquired.
ISPC also receives billets from the Tuwairqi group’s melt shop in Saudi Arabia owned by National Steel and Iron Company (Nasco) in Dammam.  The 700,000 tonnes per year plant produces billets from plain carbon and low alloy steel. After supplying ISPC, the surplus output is sold to other companies including United GHulf Steel.
The group has a downsream plant named Al Faisal Steel Products Company (FSPC) for manufacturing steel mesh and spring wire and hot and cold rebars, fabricating rebars and undertaking fusion bonding epoxy coating. Annual production capacity is around 540,000 tonnes.
Most of the group’s steel products are consumed locally with the remainder exported to other GCC states, Yemen, Pakistan and India.
As well as steel products, the group is involved in the manufacture of space frames roofing systems and electrical equipment, among other things, as well as trading and contracting activities.
Total revenues in 2007 were SR3.18 billion, up 63.6 per cent over the previous year. Net profits for 2007 were SR467.2 million, an increase of nearly 29 per cent.