CAIRO - Egypt plans to establish an integrated industrial compound to produce flat steel with investments worth $1 billion, the cabinet said in a statement on Wednesday.

The compound, with a flat steel production capacity of 1.8 million metric tons per year, would target global exports while also serving the local market.

The project has been approved by the General Authority for Suez Canal Economic Zone and will be established in cooperation with an international company, the cabinet added, without identifying the company.

(Reporting by Momen Saeed Atallah, writing by Nayera Abdallah; editing by Jason Neely)