The strong political tensions in the Middle East and North Africa continue to be the hottest topic among world steel market players, as was evident at the SteelOrbis Spring '11 Conference & 64th IREPAS Meeting held in Hong Kong on April 11-12. At the event, market participants from the Middle East expressed optimism as regards the prospects for the long steel market in the region.
Assessing the rebar market in the Middle East, Mathew Ambat from UAE-based Conares Metal Supply Ltd told SteelOrbis that in the short term the market contraction appears obvious, but in the medium to long term the prospects are better. Underlining the substantial rebar demand in the Qatari domestic market, Mr. Ambat said that active demand in Qatar would also create opportunities for rebar producers in neighboring countries. However, although the long-term outlook for the Middle East, in terms of demand and infrastructure spending, is highly unpredictable for now, Ambat said that the current changes would definitely stimulate demand, once a certain level of confidence is reached both for investors who are already there and for potential investors.
Qatar Steel marketing manager Mohammad Al-Saadi also agreed that demand in the Qatari market is strong, adding that Qatar Steel has invested in a 1 million mt rebar capacity expansion, with the investment planned to come on stream by 2014. Mr. Al-Saadi also said he foresees investments in the Middle East will increase steadily in the coming period.
On the other hand, the chief operating officer of UAE-based Utmost Building Materials, Nandakumar Pandalai, told SteelOrbis that the current political turmoil is causing funds and investors to move to the UAE from other regional countries, thanks to the stability in the UAE. Mr Pandalai said that the projects which had been put on hold during the economic crisis have now been resumed, while the government is taking many steps to ensure positive developments in the economy.
However, Dirk Weyrather, managing director of Coutinho & Ferrostaal GmbH, said that the UAE has already seen a tremendous period in terms of infrastructure development in past years, and that a certain level of saturation has been reached. In the meantime, Mr. Weyrather said that countries like Saudi Arabia and Yemen will see quite a number of infrastructure projects, once the political situation has been brought under control, though he added that for now Saudi Arabia in particular is "boiling under the surface."