Mr Mehdi Alqahtani CEO of Al Rajhi Steel Eng disclosed that his company will operate the rolling mill soon.

He said that the mill is forecasted to commence commercial production in April 2012 and the preparation works have been almost completed. He added that company's production of merchant steel and reinforcing iron has reached nearly 1 million tonne per annum.

Mr Alqahtani has said that commencing the new rolling project (with 1 million capacity to enter local markets, and 750,000 tonnes capacity of 10mm to 40mm rebars, plus 250,000 tonnes of 5.5mm to 16mm coils to the Saudi market production, making the overall production of the company about 2 million tonnes of reinforcing and merchant iron besides coils) will participate in increasing the manufacturing space for the company, and will help in settling the industrial development through the project that will provide direct employment opportunities for Saudi youth.

This goes in line with the national plan aiming to providing jobs for young local cadres in order to achieve the principal of national development. These cadres were selected and trained theoretically and practically in a way that will make them ready for actual work as the mill starts production.

He also clarified that among company's goals, the goal of serving Saudi economy and strengthening it via expansions and big projects which will help in meeting the needs of different sectors, and will provide high quality products capable of competing both locally and globally.

(Sourced from www.arabsteel.info)