Qatar Steel buys 20% of Saudi firm

Qatar Steel, a unit of Industries Qatar has bought a 20 per cent stake in Saudi Arabia-based South Steel Company, Qatar Steel said in a statement yesterday.

Under the deal, Qatar Steel will provide South Steel with technical support and supply the plant with sponge iron, which is a key raw material for the manufacturing of steel products by the plant, it said without disclosing financial details of the deal.

South Steel plans to produce one million tonnes of steel billets and 500,000 tonnes of steel bars annually by mid-2011.