First private sector steel complex comes on stream

 Noting that the cost of doing business in Pakistan is favourable to private businesses, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Saturday urged foreign investors to take maximum advantage of the export processing zones (EPZs) facility that offers land for industrial development at a subsidised rate along with duty exemptions.

Speaking at the inauguration of Tuwairqi Steel Mills (TSML), Pakistan’s first private-sector integrated steel manufacturing complex, Ashraf said Pakistan treated domestic and foreign investors alike by allowing full foreign business ownership and profit repatriation with minimal terms and conditions.

A joint venture of Al-Ittefaq Steel Production – a subsidiary of Al-Tuwairqi Holding, Saudi Arabia – and South Korea-based Posco Limited – the world’s fourth largest steel maker by market value – TSML is located at the Port Qasim over an area of 220 acres. The mill, built at a cost of $342 million, will produce 1.28 million tons of Directly Reduced Iron (DRI) per year in the first phase.

With its forward integration to a melt shop, the complex will start producing steel slabs and billets in the second phase. Local mining of iron ore and its beneficiation and pelletisation will constitute the third phase of this project.

World crude steel production in 2011 was 1.49 billion tons whereas Pakistan’s share in it was approximately 4.5 million tons. Moreover, the per-capita consumption of steel in Pakistan is 38 kg as opposed to the global average of 215 kg, which shows enormous potential for growth in the local steel industry.

While Pakistan produced 4.5 million tons of steel in 2011, the estimated annual demand in the country is 7.63 million tons. TSML’s plant is the first DRI plant installed in Pakistan, as Pakistan Steel Mills uses blast furnace technology.


Advantages of using DRI include a low amount of sulphur and phosphorous, better nitrogen control and continuous automatic charging that increases furnace productivity by up to 20%.

Speaking on the occasion, Al-Tuwairqi Holding Chairman Dr Hilal Hussain Al-Tuwairqi said his company considers Pakistan as a land of opportunities and is committed to taking part in the economic development of the country.