Bahrain Ferro Alloys (Bafa) is looking forward to beginning its maiden production at the kingdom’s Hidd Industrial Area in the first quarter of 2005.

Chairman Habib Kassim said the plant would have a capacity to produce 90,000 tonnes of ferro alloys per year, but that its three furnaces would commence operations at different times.
The first furnace, operational in the beginning of March, will have a capacity of 40,000 tonnes per year (tpy); the second, operational in September, also 40,000 tpy, and the third, beginning at the end of 2005, 10,000 tonnes.
Bafa’s alloys include ferro manganese and silico manganese, which go into the manufacture of crude steel and ferro-chrome used in the production of stainless steel.
“The company’s capital is being increased from $18.5 million to $30 million,” said Kassim, adding the project was being put up under the leadership of the Indian shareholder and managing director Punit Chada. With the region’s recent infrastructure and construction boom, the consumption of ferro silicon, for instance, is conservatively estimated at 55,660 tpy, all of which is used to produce around 30 million tonnes of crude steel. Producers from outside the region supply more than 80 per cent of the ferro silicon requirements.
Bafa, as the first major ferro alloy producer in the GCC area, is well positioned to cater to a significant portion of the demand.
Kassim, who also chairs Bahrain Electricity Supply and Transmission, said the company was now being merged with Bafa, which would have its own $20-million power station with a capacity to produce 50 MW of power. Bafa signed recently an $8 million syndicated Murabaha facility with Amlak Finance and Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB), Dubai. Kassim signed the agreement with Amlak executive committee chairman Hussein Al Meeza and EIB senior vice president Abdulla Showaiter.
Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) financed the first phase with a loan of $11 million.
“Amlak Finance and EIB are pleased to play a major role in this transaction as this is one of the pioneering project finance deals undertaken in the region for the private sector,” said Al Meeza, who also expressed the hope that the deal would encourage other private sector groups to launch industrial projects in the Gulf.
Other shareholders include Shaikh Abdulaziz Hamad Al Jomaih (Al Jomaih Holdings), Shaikh Hamad Saad Al Sulaiman (Bin Sulaiman Holdings), Investors Bank, Takaful International, Peter Hertog and Anmar Al Arrayed.