Over the past few years, Saudi Arabia has become one of the fastest steel producing and consuming nation in the Middle East region. Various factors like conducive geographical location cheaper availability of labor as compared to Europe and America and cheap and reliable energy and gas resources have made Saudi Arabia one of the most attractive destinations for global crude steel producers.
Moreover, supported by the Governments initiative to build new economic cities, railways system, airports and a number of infrastructure projects, the steel consumption in Saudi Arabia is anticipated to gain an uninterrupted momentum in the near future.
Supported by the increase in the number of infrastructure related projects, the demand for steel in Saudi Arabian is expected to remain strong in the near future. In the Q1 of 2010, the Kingdom’s steel output rose by close to 42% to reach approximately 1.333 million tonnes
Also, in order to ease shortages of steel rebar and check the increasing prices of the commodity in the country, the Saudi government has removed the import duty on steel rebar, thereby, creating a more conducive environment for steel consumption.