The World Steel Association has reported that Saudi Arabia's production of iron is expected to increase to 9.3 million tonnes this year compared to 7.6 million tonnes in 2009 and will reach 10 million tonnes next year.
According to a report issued by the association, Saudi Arabia produced 1.3 million tonnes of iron and steel in the Q1 2010 compared to 938,000 tonnes in the same quarter of 2009, an increase of 70.4%.
In its report, the World Steel Association, which consists of 66 member countries including Saudi Arabia, said that the Saudi production of iron reached 419,000 tonnes in March and 428,000 tonnes in February.
The association expects the kingdom's production to increase from 7.6 million tonnes in 2009 to 9.3 million tonnes this year and to reach 10 million tonnes in 2011 an increase of 22.2% between 2009 and 2010 and 7.9% between 2010 and 2011.
As for other Arab countries it was reported that Egypt's production of iron and steel in March reached 497,000 tonnes. In Qatar it was 170,000 tonnes followed by Morocco, Libya and Algeria, the 4 biggest iron producing countries in the Arab world.