Hadeed, the manufacturing affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), said it will become self-sufficient in feedstock, intermediate and finished products with the opening of the new steel plant at Jubail in the second half of 2012.

Abdulaziz Suleiman Al-Humaid, Sabic vice president (Metals) and Hadeed chairman, said the steel billets produced at Hadeed will meet the requirements of its galvanizing lines including the new one that is to be built.

"The company will be able to provide high quality specialized wire rolls to the plants that now import the product as well as meet the needs of special projects," Al-Humaid explained.

The new plant, to be built by Italian company, Danieli, will have an annual production capacity of one million tons of steel billets.

"This will increase the total production capacity of Hadeed to six million tons, of which long products will account for four million," he added.-TradeArabia News Service