UAE-based steel producer Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) has announced that it has launched its new steel sheet pile product, becoming the only steel manufacturer in the Middle East to develop and sell sheet piles.
Emirates Steel plans to produce up to 150,000 mt of sheet piles per year, depending on market demand, and hopes to add further value-added products to its range so as to reduce its exposure in the highly competitive commercial beam market. In total, the company operates rebar mills, a wire rod mill and a structural steel mill, with a combined capacity of 3.5 million mt per year.
In March this year, Emirates Steel started taking full orders for Z-piles, which are used as barriers to support excavations. According to Emirates Steel estimates, demand for sheet piles in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is around 80,000 mt per year.
Saeed G Al Romaithi, CEO of Emirates Steel, stressed that high value-added long products are being developed to enhance profitability in the face of challenging market conditions. In June last year, Emirates Steel made public its plans to diversify its product range for its one million metric ton per year heavy section mill to produce S355J2 grade structural steel specified in offshore oil, gas and petrochemical projects.
