Sabic has announced that its manufacturing affiliate, Saudi Iron and Steel Company (Hadeed), signed an agreement with the Italian company Danieli for the construction of a steel plant and a production line for galvanising long products in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

Abdulaziz Suleiman Al-Humaid, Sabic vice president, metals, and Hadeed chairman, signed the contract on behalf of Sabic. The new plant, scheduled to start-up in the second half of 2012, will have an annual production capacity of one million tonnes of steel billets. It will increase the total production capacity of Hadeed to 6 million tonnes, of which long products will account for 4 million tonnes.

Al-Humaid said the new plant would make Hadeed self-sufficient in feedstock, intermediate and finished products. The steel billets produced at Hadeed would meet the requirements of its galvanising lines including the new one that is to be built. The company would be able to provide high-quality specialised wire rolls to the plants that now import the product as well as meet the needs of special projects, Al-Humaid said.