The Gulf's first integrated steel manufacturer celebrates 30th anniversary with expansion plans and client recognition

Doha, Qatar - 26 October 2008 - Qatar Steel, the first integrated steel manufacturer in the Gulf region and recently named among the Top Four Steel Producers in the Middle East, announced its 30th anniversary today at a press conference held at the Ritz Carlton in the presence of H.E. Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Thani, Director and General Manager of Qatar Steel, Mr. Ali Bin Hassan Al Muraikhi, Commercial Division Manager, Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Al Saadi, Marketing Department Manager, and Mr. Saed Mohamed Al Roomi, Public Relations Department Manager .

Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Thani, Director and General Manager of Qatar Steel, said regarding this milestone, "For 30 years Qatar Steel has endeavored to be universally recognized as a leading and consistently growing force in the steel industry of the region, to be admired for our business culture, for building value for our shareholders and customers and for bringing inspiration to our people. We will continue to be the first name in the region's steel industry by harnessing our assets and resources to achieve profitable growth, operational and organizational excellence and good corporate citizenship."

Qatar Steel, a pioneer in the steel and metals industry worldwide has consistently and perceptively met the demands of the booming construction market around the GCC and the globe. In an effort to meet the ever-increasing demand for steel in Qatar, the Gulf and internationally, Qatar Steel is making huge development strides in its state-of-the-art production and delivery programs. Its on-going expansion projects are designed to produce technically-advanced quality products and increase the company's presence and visibility in the market place.

As a testament to its innovation and manufacturing success, the state-owned company has recently been named by MEED, a Middle East business intelligence company, as one of the Top Four Steel Producers in the Middle East. Qatar Steel's products are backed by a loyalty and responsibility to clients and the industry as a whole.

Mr. Ali Bin Hassan Al Muraikhi, Commercial Division Manager, said of Qatar Steel's 30 years of industry distinction, "Qatar Steel stands proud for its unrivaled reputation earned through a reliable delivery chain of its products which range from reinforcing bars and wire-rods to billets. A highly-flexible and unceasing approach to complete customer satisfaction is the primary drive behind our management's philosophy of success. Beyond this fundamental business requirement, we have also nurtured a philosophy of good citizenship alongside a belief in professionalism."

Throughout its 30 years of production, Qatar Steel has maintained a conscientious commitment to the environment. The company has been awarded the GCC Environmental Award for "Best Company" among the GCC regarding the implementation of environmental standards and measurement. The company employs various methods of recycling and re-using production waste, basing its production process on the utilization of clean raw materials and steel making technology that is the lowest producer of CO2 emission per ton of steel in the world.

Since 1978, the steel and metals trailblazer has formed a foundation dedicated to the environment, its employees, its clients and the literal and figurative building of society. Sheikh Nasser said of Qatar Steel's values and philosophy comment,  "At Qatar Steel, we believe that our efforts are not geared only toward producing the all-too-important commodity of steel, rather we consider our endeavors towards direct contribution to the principles constituting the vision of future possibilities. In fact, as a group of highly-skilled and dedicated professionals, our awareness about social intricacies is intended to have an impact on the daily lives of society through the visible infrastructural and environmental developments of today as well as of tomorrow. This is a driving force steering our organizational ethos." 

Qatar Steel has distinguished itself as having been instrumental to development in the region. Company initiatives aimed at increasing productivity capacity and delivery efficiency are on-going, as the number of construction projects around the region and the Gulf continue to rapidly increase.

To meet the upward spiraling of demand in GCC, regional and international markets, Qatar Steel is enhancing or acquiring production facilities, cultivating its customer services and enhancing its chain of distributors.

Qatar Steel will soon have a permanent presence in Bahrain, as it recently purchased a 25 percent stake in Gulf Industrial Investment Company (GIIC) which supplies iron ore pellets to the Gulf steel manufacturing industry. GIIC has launched ambitious plans to double production to 11 million tons per year. This commercial collaboration, estimated at more than $570 million, will be one of the largest industrial schemes undertaken in the Gulf and will position Bahrain as the main supplier to the Gulf steel industry.

Sheikh Nasser said of the drive behind Qatar Steel's bold growth strategy, "Today we are hard at work to mould the shape of the steel of tomorrow, capitalizing on the success of the past and painting the picture of the future, where steel will be a celebrated necessity whose contribution to social welfare would be a matter of fact rather than a silent infrastructural component. At Qatar Steel, we firmly believe that our steel shapes the future for our regional and global community's progress and life fulfillment by making steel matter."

Qatar Steel will officially celebrate its 30th anniversary with a gala event on the evening of October 27th at the Ritz Carlton to be attended by company officials, industry representatives and 30 years of satisfied clients.

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About Qatar Steel
Qatar Steel Company was formed in 1974 as the first integrated steel plant in the Arabian Gulf. It began its commercial steel production in 1978 and it became wholly owned by Qatar Industry a Qatari company list on the Doha Security Market.

Its Qatar-based mill is located in Mesaieed Industrial City, south of Doha and its facilities in Dubai, formed in 2003, and a subsidiary of the parent company Qatar Steel Company is situated in the Jebel Ali Free Zone near Dubai.  In an effort to meet the growing demand for steel in Qatar and across the Gulf region, Qatar Steel is making huge strides in steel production.  Its technically advanced expansion projects have been designed to produce world class products and help make Qatar Steel's presence felt on the steel map of the world.

Consistent with its pride in quality assurance its reinforcing bars produced in Mesaieed and Dubai have received several quality accreditations recognised by the industry, including UK CARES certification.

Its Mesaieed plant houses state of the art facilities including Midrex process based DRI/HBI Combo Mega Module, Electric Arc Furnaces, a continuous casting plant and rolling mills with the latest in automated features, well-equipped jetty and Quality Control laboratories.

Today the plant occupies an area of 1,354,601 square meters with a further area of 375,000 square meters already reserved for future development and expansion.  Qatar Steel employs a total workforce of over 2,000 people,

Both Qatar and Dubai facilities operates under the umbrella of the same corporate brand identity as Qatar Steel. 

 

© Press Release 2008