Dubai: The UAE economic policy is to maximise participation from industrial sector to boost its GDP component in the country's economic growth and it is very vital to promote UAE as quality brand to boost 'Made in UAE' products, said Abdullah Al Saleh, undersecretary of the UAE Ministry of Economy, on Thursday.
The UAE Ministry of Economy has said that the value of the UAE's non-oil foreign trade reached Dh1.75 trillion ($476.4 billion) in 2015, a growth of up to 10 per cent from 2014. The non-oil trade figures will see further growth in the current year as UAE stands resilient and the most diversified economy in the region. "Currently the non-oil industrial component in the over all GDP is 9.5 per cent and the overall industrial contribution is approximately 14.5 per cent," said Al Saleh in Dubai while inaugurating Conares - the second largest private steel manufacturer in the UAE - Jebel Ali Free Zone facility, commencing installation of its 12'' pipe mill. This is part of Conares enhancing its annual production to one million tonnes.
The event was attended by Ibrahim Mohamed Al Janahi, Deputy CEO and chief commercial officer of Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority, or Jafza and Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan.
Bharat Bhatia, CEO of Conares, said: "We are enhancing our pipe manufacturing facilities and the new size range of the product will be from 4" to 12". We planned to increase the size of our pipe range a couple of years ago in order to meet the growing demand from the region's infrastructure development sector. Keeping the vision of the UAE and Dubai 2021, we expect multiplying our revenues to exceed Dh2 billion mark. In terms of facility growth, we are aligning Conares with the region's commitment to infrastructure developments. The Vision 2021 for Conares is crucial to make it a manufacturing powerhouse."
Conares is the region's leading provider of downstream steel products and recently celebrated its 25th year of operation in the market. The state-of-the-art steel plants of Conares, spread in an area of over 1.5 million sq.ft. in Jafza, currently manufactures steel pipes and rebars. The rebars currently represent about 20 per cent the UAE market share and the pipes cater to 25 per cent of the total market demand in the region.
"We strongly believe in the vision of the leadership of this nation, and are motivated by the continuous evolution to live in such world-class cities. The expanded facility will be ready for operations in the last quarter of the current year. We are also planning other investments for the company. We foresee a good demand for our products for the ongoing projects in the UAE, especially the projects related to infrastructure development to host the World Expo 2020 in Dubai and the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar," he added.
"Conares has been growing to deliver one million tonnes of steel annually. Being a 100 per cent privately owned entity, our assets exceed $300 million of investments in the UAE. With the support from federal and local government agencies, our products have not only gained market wide acceptance but also are preferred choice of many prestigious projects today," added Bhatia."The increased steel demand for steel in the UAE will surface from 2016, having an additional growth of 10 per cent on a yearly basis from the year 2017. From the steel industry standpoint, local manufacturers will be in a strong position to cater to each of the upcoming projects. Aside from this, we witness a lot of job opportunities since the beginning of the current year." Conares has been manufacturing 500,000 metric tonnes of steel rebars, and 250,000 metric tonnes of steel pipes annually; and now achieved the milestone of one million metric tonnes manufacturing capacity with additional production of 250,000 metric tonnes as per the expansions at its plant.
With commencing the installation of its 12" pipe mill, Conares is a step closer to produce 1 million tonnes of steel annually. The company's current market reach for steel rebars is at 85 per cent in the UAE; 15 per cent in the Middle East region; while it is 65 per cent in the UAE, 20 per cent in the region and 15 per cent in the part of the world for steel pipes.
"Strategically, we have aimed to have a wider market presence based on the product which is why we have a certain percentage of exports outside the region. For pipes, being a global product for us, our export stands at 40 per cent. Rebars, being a regional product, 75 per cent of our production is allotted to the local market and remaining is spread within GCC," concluded Bhatia.