State-owned Emirates Steel Industries is going ahead with its expansion plans despite the global slowdown and aims to boost output to 1.85 million tonnes next year, a senior executive said.

"We believe there will be sufficient demand to absorb that production," Sridhar Krishnamoorthy, deputy chief executive at Emirates Steel Industries, said on the sidelines of Metal Bulletin's steel conference in Dubai on Monday.

He told Reuters that the company resumed production after suspending it in September for three weeks and were expecting the output to reach just below 1 million tonnes this year, up from 2007's 770,000 tonnes.

He also said the company's target to boost capacity to around 3 million tonnes by 2011 was still intact.-Reuters