RIYADH: Saudi Basic Industries Corp.'s unit Arabian Industrial Fibers Co. will complete its plan to expand the capacity of its complex at Yanbu on the Red Sea coast in two and half years time, SABIC's Chief Executive Mohamed Al-Mady said Monday. "Hopefully, it will be completed then," he said on the sidelines of a conference in Riyadh. The firm, known as Ibn Rushd, last month signed contracts with Taiwan's CTCI and China's Sinopec Engineering to expand the complex. CTCI will double Ibn Rushd Ibn's aromatics production capacity to 1.2 million tons a year and more than double its terephthalic acid capacity to 750,000 tons a year. Sinopec Engineering will build a new polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, plant, which will increase the firm's total capacity to 750,000 tons a year from 330,000 tons. SABIC didn't provide the values of the contracts, which take between 24 and 27 months to be completed. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's decision to ban steel exports will affect local manufacturers, who may record a surplus of as much as 20 million tons. Abdurrahman Al Rashid, member of the board of the Kingdom's Supreme Economic Council, said “the ban doesn't comply with some of the World Trade Organization's rules as there is demand for these Saudi products from some foreign markets.” Rashid, who also heads the Kingdom's Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said “if Qatar reduces or halts its steel exports to Saudi Arabia due to its expected construction boom, the impact on the local steel market is likely to be minimal.” Rashid, who estimates Saudi annual steel production at 5 million tons to 6 million tons, ruled out that new steel plants will be set up in the Kingdom in the near future as the market has become saturated. In another development, Saudi Ceramic Co., the largest company on the 13-stock Tadawul All Share Building And Construction Index, is expanding tiles output on expectations of growing demand in the Kingdom. “We are confident that the market will continue to grow in 2011 and 2012,” Chief Executive Officer Abdulkarim Al-Nafie said. “This is why we are expanding our tile output and will start red brick production very soon.” Saudi Arabian home demand is fueling real estate developments in many parts of the kingdom as the population swells and the economy accelerates on increased government spending “Our sales are growing,” said Al-Nafie.
