Emirates Business 24/7 reported that Rak Steel, the second largest steel manufacturing facility in the UAE, has stopped production due to increasing fluctuation in the cost of raw materials for production of steel.

Mr Ajay Aggarwal CEO of Rak Steel told Emirates 24/7 over telephone from India that the company's profitability had reduced significantly due to increasing and fluctuating cost of raw materials.

Mr Aggarwal said “Unlike others we import our raw material and high and to increasing fluctuation cost meant that it was no more profitable for us.”

When asked when the factory would restart production he said, "We have been down for almost two months now. We have still not made any plans for restarting operations soon. It all depends on the market conditions.”

Rak Steel was inaugurates in 2008 with a capacity to produce 500,000 tonnes of rebar annually. A further expansion plan was announced in 2009 increasing its production capacity to 750,000 tonnes.

(Sourced from Emirates Business 24/7)