Conares expands its operations at Jafz facility

Steel manufacturer Conares today said it had commenced installation of its 12’’ pipe mill at its facility in Jebel Ali Free Zone as part of enhancing its annual production to 1 million tonnes.

Abdullah Al Saleh, Undersecretary of the UAE Ministry of Economy; and Ibrahim Mohamed Al Janahi, Deputy CEO and Chief Commercial Officer of Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza), and Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan attended the event.

The steel plants of Conares, spread in an area of over 1.5 million sq.ft. in Jafza, currently manufactures steel pipes and rebars. The rebars currently represent about 20 per cent the UAE market share and the pipes cater to 25 per cent of the total market demand in the region.

Bharat Bhatia, CEO of Conares, said: “We are enhancing our pipe manufacturing facilities and the new size range of the product will be from 4” to 12”. We planned to increase the size of our pipe range a couple of years ago in order to meet the growing demand from the region’s infrastructure development sector. We expect multiplying our revenues to exceed Dh2 billion mark.”

He said the expanded facility will be ready for operations in the last quarter of the current year.

“We are also planning other investments for the company. We foresee a good demand for our products for the ongoing projects in the UAE, especially the projects related to infrastructure development to host the World Expo 2020 in Dubai and the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar,” he added.

“Conares has been growing to deliver 1 million tons of steel annually. Our assets exceed $300 million of investments in the UAE,” Bhatia reiterated.

Talking about the total volume of the steel industry in the UAE, he said, “The increased steel demand for steel in the UAE will surface from 2016, having an additional growth of 10 per cent on a yearly basis from the year 2017. From the steel industry standpoint, local manufacturers will be in a strong position to cater to each of the upcoming projects. Aside from this, we witness a lot of job opportunities since the beginning of the current year.”  

Conares has been manufacturing 500,000 metric tonnes of steel rebars, and 250,000 metric tonnes of steel pipes annually; and now achieved the milestone of 1 million metric tonnes manufacturing capacity with additional production of 250,000 metric tonnes as per the expansions at its plant. With commencing the installation of its 12” pipe mill, Conares is a step closer to produce 1 million tonnes of steel annually.

The company’s current market reach for steel rebars is at 85 per cent in the UAE; 15 per cent in the Middle East region; while it is 65 per cent in the UAE, 20 per cent in the region and 15 per cent in the part of the world for steel pipes.

“Strategically, we have aimed to have a wider market presence based on the product which is why we have a certain percentage of exports outside the region. For pipes, being a global product for us, our export stands at 40 per cent. Rebars, being a regional product, 75 per cent of our production is allotted to the local market and remaining is spread within GCC,” Bhatia said.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.