Emirates Steel to spend $1.6bn for expansion

State-owned Emirates Steel Industries is set to invest Dh6 billion ($1.63 billion) for the second phase of its UAE plant expansion, the company's chairman said on Wednesday.

Phase II of the expansion will boost the plant's capacity to 3 million tonnes per annum by 2011, Hussain Al Nowais told reporters. The firm has just completed its Dh3 billion phase one expansion, he said.

"The first phase of the...expansion will lift our production from 650,000 tonnes per year to two million tonnes (per year)," Nowais said.

Emirates Steel is looking to further boost its capacity to 6.5 million tonnes annually by 2013-2014 through capacity expansions and acquisitions, Nowais said.

Abu Dhabi, cushioned by oil wealth, has felt the impact of the global slowdown less than Dubai. Abu Dhabi, leader of the seven-member UAE, holds 90 per cent of the UAE's oil reserves and pumps most of the oil from the world's third-largest exporter. 

 

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