Jebel Ali to house Essar Steel unit

The Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) has announced that it will be home to a steel processing and service centre for Indian multinational conglomerate Essar Group's subsidiary Essar Steel Middle East.

A long-term lease agreement on a 25,000 square metre property in Jafza was signed by Dr Mohammed Al Banna, SVP Commercial Sales, Jafza, and B Sivakumar, Director of Essar Steel Middle East.

Located out of Jebel Ali Free Zone South, Essar Steel Middle East will be a 250,000 tonnes per annum processing centre supplying world class, mill guaranteed, and quality products.

Essar Steel already runs India's largest steel service Centre operations with 2.5 million tonnes per annum and has an annual global capacity of 14 million tonnes.

The new facility is designed to serve Essar's expanding regional client base in consumer sectors such as automotive, white goods, construction, engineering and shipbuilding. Through innovative downstream solutions like service centres and customer care centres, as well as a global network of retail outlets branded Essar Hypermarts, the company has already enhanced operational efficiency and turned around the traditional concept of the steel value chain.

"Essar Steel is a widely respected global company and its expertise, know-how and innovative solutions will be of immense benefit to the region. We are very pleased to welcome them to the Jafza community. To create a successful business model means offering customers and clients the best of everything in one place and Jafza has grown steadily to accommodate and nourish the growth of the businesses based in the Free Zone. We hope the new base will help the company to continue the pursuit of its vision and effectively reach out to more businesses and markets across Mena region," said Al Banna.

Sivakumar said: "Essar Steel's proposed facility is in line with company's policy to be closer to the customers. We will be able to provide just in time service to our customers which will result in swifter turnarounds, better productivity, lower working capital requirements and consequently a leaner and more profitable supply chain in the region. We have been serving this market for more than a decade now. Establishing a base in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, one of the region's oldest and largest business hubs gives us a strategic platform to implement our growth plans in the region."

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